Hotel at PB Convention Center to close

Owner says 200-room property loses money, offers to sell it to city for $3M

PINE BLUFF -- The owner of Pine Bluff's Plaza Hotel is closing the property today and offering the city a chance to purchase it for $3 million.

The struggling 200-room hotel, which is attached to the Pine Bluff Convention Center, has steadily lost money and guests over the past several years.

Hotel manager Robert Webster said Monday that eviction notices went out over the weekend to 16 guests, some of whom are staying at the property on a long-term basis. Webster said he and several other workers will remain on site to ensure the hotel isn't vandalized.

"We want to keep the property up as best we can," Webster said.

Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth and several Pine Bluff aldermen held a conference call Monday afternoon to discuss the offer made Monday by hotel owner Bruce Rahmani. Another meeting will be scheduled, the mayor said.

"I just wanted to let all of you know what is going on, because this news is spreading out in the community," Hollingsworth said. "Right now, we have a lot of questions that need to be answered, and this is just an informative meeting."

Whitnee Bullerwell, a spokesman for the Arkansas Municipal League, said she and her colleagues are not aware of any city in the state that currently owns or leases a hotel.

El Dorado officials have discussed a possible joint venture with business owners to construct a hotel next to its conference center, but no formal plans have materialized.

Pine Bluff Alderman Steven Mays said he was disappointed that the mayor didn't invite the city attorney to Monday's conference call and that an in-person meeting wasn't held. Mays also said he would have liked to have a representative of the hotel on the call, as well.

"This involves legal business of the city," Mays said.

"Alderman Mays, there is no action going to be taken today, and I can assure you at our sit-down meeting everyone will be at the table when decisions are being made," Hollingsworth replied. "Right now, I am just sharing with all of you what I know. Not everyone could be at a physical meeting today, so that is why I opted for a conference call."

Another option Rahmani proposed to the city includes a $20,000 per month lease, with the stipulation that $1 million in renovations be done to the property, Hollingsworth said. The mayor noted that the property has lost about $350,000 per year over the past several years, and the lack of profitability has prompted Rahmani to close the hotel.

A message left for Rahmani was not returned Monday. According to the Jefferson County assessor's office, the hotel has an appraised value of $612,000.

Hollingsworth said recent upgrades to the hotel include new television sets, bedding and paint, but a lot more work will be needed to bring the hotel up to the standards of a national chain.

The Plaza Hotel has been the subject of debates before, and this isn't the first time its doors have been shut.

The five-story hotel originally opened in 1989 under the name Wilson World Hotel, and it has had six owners.

In early 2007, the hotel had maintenance problems, and fixtures and equipment were missing when a management company took over at the behest of the hotel's mortgage holder at the time.

Shortly after Rahmani purchased the property, it was completely remodeled and branded the Ramada Plaza Hotel. The Ramada franchise was removed several years later after the property's standards sank below that of the Ramada chain, hotel officials said at the time.

The hotel is important to the city because of its role in hosting convention attendees.

Bob Purvis, executive director of the Pine Bluff Convention Center, said the hotel's decline has hindered his job over the past several years. Marketing conventions in the city is tough, he said, when "you can't offer someone a full-service hotel right next door."

Purvis added that "most people want to come to a convention, park their cars and have everything on site. It's tough to ask people to drive miles across town, back and forth.

"I would really like to see this hotel succeed, but it's going to take great management. That's something we have never really seen over there. And I am hopeful that can change."

State Desk on 07/28/2015

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