Property in hand, RAM Hotels moves forward with downtown Columbus project

For almost a year, Columbus hotel developers Rinkesh and Matt Patel have been working to bring an exclusive Marriott-branded hotel to downtown Columbus.

Last week, that plan moved closer to reality when RAM Hotels concluded a deal to purchase the Broadway mid-1200 block property that housed the Raymond Rowe furniture company.

“Anything with this kind of caliber, there are a lot of challenges and a lot of ‘what-ifs,’” said Rinkesh Patel, president of RAM.

The prime real estate will be developed with a mix of new construction and renovation to make way for a 106-room AC Hotel. If all goes well, the AC Hotel, which will be all new construction, could open two years from now, Rinkesh Patel said.

While RAM has been working the deal to buy the Raymond Rowe property, the company has been putting in place the pieces that will allow it to move quickly next summer when the furniture store vacates the buildings. Getting clear title, zoning, dealing with city ordinances, approval from the city’s Facade Board and making sure the brand fits the location have been the center of focus for Rinkesh Patel.

“Having crossed off everything on the check list to this point is a great relief,” Rinkesh Patel said on Monday. “You do everything you need to do earlier so there is smooth sailing. Most of our part is done. We can now move to the next stage.”

To get the land needed for the AC Hotel, RAM had to purchase the entire Raymond Rowe site, which includes 1231 and 1225 Broadway, a warehouse near Front Avenue and two sizable surface parking lots.

RAM immediately sold the 1231 Broadway building that currently houses the Golf Gallery to 1225 Broadway LLC, a partnership between developer Philip Thayer and commercial real estate broker Carson Cummings.

“It was an all-or-nothing deal with Rowe,” Cummings said.

Selling the three-story structure that won’t be demolished made sense, Rinkesh Patel said. RAM started operation in 2003 and currently owns and operates 12 Marriott and Hilton properties in Alabama and Georgia. There are at least six more properties, including the one in downtown Columbus, in the planning or construction phase.

“We are hospitality people and what we do best is hospitality,” he said. “That is our niche and we stick to it. This transaction came with the condition we had to purchase the entire tract or we couldn’t purchase any of it.”

RAM has also put the architects in place to design the project, hiring local firm 2WR Partners. Scott Allen, a 2 + WR senior partner, is the lead architect.

“After sitting down with them, we came to conclusion this architect was tuned in to what we want there,” Rinkesh Patel said. “It will be a partnership learning experience for both of us.”

As 1231 Broadway is developed into a mix of retail, restaurant and residential, Cummings and Thayer also selected 2WR to do its design work.

“They picked architect and we said, ‘That makes sense to us,’” Cummings said. “The reason is we are going to work closely with them because we are going to have common areas. They will own those areas, but we will have ingress and egress through them.”

The hotel design will set the tone for what’s around it, said Matt Patel, RAM’s executive vice president.

“There is no doubt the hotel will drive the design around it,” he said.

By demolishing the 1225 building, RAM will be able to shift the location of the new building slightly south into an existing parking lot that fronts Broadway. In doing that, it will allow room for an alley between the new hotel and the 1231 building. The two buildings are currently attached.

But at the end of day, this project is about a business deal that works for RAM, Matt Patel said. There are about 70 AC Hotels worldwide and another 100 under construction in the United States, including one at Phipps Plaza in Buckhead, and others in Asheville, N.C., and Savannah.

AC Hotels are an high-end Marriott brand. The rooms in Columbus will likely rent for between $175 and $200 per night, significantly more than other Columbus area hotels. That would make the new hotel the highest room rate in Columbus.

“We are in the business to provide return on investment, so at the end of the day, we look at supply and demand and the economics of it,” Matt Patel said. “What makes me happy is to have the best return on investment of any hotel management company in Alabama and Georgia. We are right there and our returns are better than most of the companies out there.”

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Property in hand, RAM Hotels moves forward with downtown Columbus project."