Hotel to reopen as Marriott

FINDLAY — The former Baymont Inn & Suites, at 941 Interstate Drive, is undergoing a $2.5 million renovation and conversion to a new identity: City Express by Marriott. "We have every intention of opening this calendar year, but whether that's November, December, I can't say at this point," said John Whitson, managing partner of Whitson Properties, which owns the hotel. Over a year ago, Whitson Properties was considering demolishing the 27-year-old building. But on closer inspection, it was determined to be worth keeping. "The building is solid. It really doesn't need to come down," Whitson said. "You just need to clean it up." "We're taking all the walls down inside. We're going to end up taking all the EIFS (exterior insulation and finish system) off the exterior and redoing the whole thing," he said. "So it will be a brand new building by the time we're done." It also is located on a "very valuable, high-profile piece of ground" so near to Interstate 75, he said. The new hotel will have 76 rooms, two more than Baymont did because the pools are being eliminated. Whitson said Baymont was doing "fine" financially. "It wasn't losing money for us, but it wasn't making any money either at all," Whitson said last year. "It was just kind of breaking even." Whitson Properties decided it should be getting a bigger return on its prime real estate. Whitson anticipates that will be happening. "We've always wanted to have Marriott," he said. The hotel opened in 1998 as Holiday Inn Express and then was rebranded a few years ago when Whitson Properties opened a new Holiday Inn & Express Suites, nearby at 1920 Express Way. Whitson Properties also owns the nearby Hilton Garden Inn, at 1050 Interstate Drive, and Country Inn & Suites, at 903 Interstate Drive.