Ridpath’s future unclear
Though the Ridpath Hotel is about to be sold, it’s not clear whether it will continue to operate as a hotel.
Red Lion Hotels announced in its second-quarter earnings report that the sale of the Ridpath in downtown Spokane should be complete by the end of September. However, the company’s investment relations manager, Julie Langenheim, declined to say who the new owners were or whether they’d continue to operate it as a hotel.
The company has executed agreements with buyers to purchase the Red Lion in Idaho Falls and the Ridpath, the earnings report said. The sales are expected to reap $10.1 million for Spokane-based Red Lion, though Langenheim would not disclose the amount of each sale.
The sales are part of a Red Lion campaign announced in November 2004 to sell 11 hotels and other properties to raise money for renovations to the remaining hotels. Among the Spokane properties already sold are the former Budget Inn at Division Street and Fourth Avenue and the Crescent Court building in downtown Spokane.
In the spring, Red Lion discontinued the Ridpath’s membership in the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, causing the CVB to stop booking rooms into the hotel for conventions and other meetings, said Keith Backsen, the CVB’s vice president. However, if someone requests the Ridpath specifically, they are booked there, Backsen said.
Backsen said if the configuration of the Ridpath changes, the greatest impact on the tourism industry would be the loss of meeting space. The Ridpath offers 18,000 square feet of meeting space, Backsen said, which is ideal for a meeting with a couple of hundred people.
“There’s not that many hotels in town that have that,” Backsen said, naming the DoubleTree, Davenport Hotel, Red Lion River Inn, Red Lion Hotel at the Park and Mirabeau Park Hotel as offering comparable meeting space.
If the Ridpath were to be converted to another use, the loss of hotel rooms wouldn’t be as severe because of the construction of the Davenport Tower, expected to be complete by January, Backsen said. The new hotel, which is across the street from the historic Davenport Hotel, will add 319 additional rooms.
The Ridpath first opened in 1900 and is the oldest continuously operating full-service hotel in Spokane, according to information provided by the hotel. The Ridpath has been restored twice, following fires in 1902 and 1950, and expanded across First Avenue in 1959 when the Spokane Hotel was purchased and razed.
A team of investors including Tomlinson Black Commercial CEO Dave Black has purchased the First Avenue section of the Ridpath and is planning to convert it into condominiums with ground-floor retail space.