Red Lion sells Templin’s on the River in Post Falls

Red Lion Hotels has sold Templin’s on the River in Post Falls for $9.25 million.

The sale of the hotel was among seven orchestrated by Red Lion over the past eight months as the company worked to reduce assets, pay down debt and expand its franchise business.

Templin’s on the River, 414 E. First St., will continue to operate as a Red Lion-branded property. The sale was recorded Wednesday at the Kootenai County Courthouse, but it wasn’t immediately clear who the new owner is.

Red Lion’s parent company, RLH Corp., expects to record a $300,000 loss on the sale of Templin’s, which had revenue of $4.3 million last year, officials said in a news release.

Templin’s On the River was built by North Idaho hotelier Bob Templin, who died last year at age 93. He sold the 167-room hotel to a forerunner of Red Lion in 1998, but remained active in the business.

Templin, known as “Mr. Hospitality,” was associated with two landmark hotels.

He opened the North Shore Resort Hotel on downtown Coeur d’Alene’s lakefront in 1965 and completed a seven-story tower in 1973. But in 1983 he lost control of the hotel, and other hospitality operations he owned or managed, in a hostile corporate takeover orchestrated by Duane Hagadone. Hagadone later rebuilt the North Shore into the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Templin used an exception in his noncompete clause with Hagadone to build Templin’s on the Spokane River in the mid-1980s.

Greg Mount, RLH’s president and CEO, said the company is making strides in becoming an “asset light” operation, with a focus on growing its franchise business in the U.S. and Canada.

The company has 14 brands, including Red Lion Hotels, Red Lion Inn & Suites, Hotel RL, GuestHouse, Settle Inn, 3 Palms Hotels & Resorts and America’s Best Inns & Suites and America’s Best Value Inn.

Sales of the seven hotel properties generated $16.2 million for RLH Corp., and four other hotels remain on the market.

The company was headquartered in Spokane until last year, when Mount moved the corporate offices to Denver. A regional office continues to operate in Spokane.