Chicago-based investment company AJ Capital Partners recently announced plans to transform the Red Roof Inn on West Main Street into one of the first of its new hotel collection, Graduate Hotels. The company obtained the property for about $20.4 million dollars in July.
AJ Capital hopes to incorporate the atmosphere of the Corner and the University in their renovations. The hotel is slated to open during the spring semester of 2015.
According to a press release by Graduate Hotels, the company will target college markets and highlight the “local culture and history” of the towns surrounding their hotels.
Ben Werpin, the founder of AJ Capital Partners, said in the press release that the hotel will target visitors of the University.
“We wanted to create an inspiring environment where alumni, current and prospective students, parents, professors, visitors and business travelers alike can see themselves spending time and feel a sense of place that’s true to the town,” he said. “Each property will have its own flair that reflects the personality of each community while also fitting into the national scheme and concept of our brand as a whole.”
The Graduate Hotel website says every site and property “commemorates the youthful optimism of school days and cultivates the spirit of each community in a bright new way.”
The new hotel is obliged by contract to honor all future reservations that have been made through the Red Roof Inn.
The brand’s first two locations — Arizona State and the University of Georgia — will open later this year, with additional construction planned for the Universities of Mississippi, Wisconsin and Indiana, and North Carolina State.
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