Olé! A Mexico-based developer has bought a foreclosed Detroit Hotel across from Cobo Center downtown. Probably. The person that courts appointed to control the Hotel Pontchartrain since the 2009 foreclosure won't tell us the sale price or the buyer, but the good old Detroit News spoke to Bill Bohde, a senior vice president of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Veep says Mexico-based developer Gabriel Ruiz is plunking down the money for it and has an agreement with Crowne Plaza to run the property. (The chain has locations in Auburn Hills and Novi). Work the building may begin this summer and it was designed with angular bay windows to provide every room with views of the river. Completed in 1965, the Hotel coined the awkward phrase "the top of the Pontch" for it's popular party destination. Apparently, the place was done in when it got too hot hot hot. And not in a good way.
The Detroit location last operated as the Detroit Riverside Hotel and struggled for years under different names. [Attorney David] Findling shut it down in July 2009 when the air conditioning system failed. · Detroit's shuttered Hotel Pontchartrain finds a buyer [The Detroit News]
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