The former Hyatt Regency Hotel, recently renamed the Edward Hotel, will be converted into market-rate apartments by a yet-to-be identified buyer.
Buyer has not yet been revealed
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – The Edward Hotel, remembered as the former Hyatt Regency, will be sold to a yet-to-be-disclosed buyer, who plans to convert it to market-rate apartments, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Crains Detroit Business was the first to report the sale.
The hotel, which has been closed since December 2018, will be sold to a New York-based company, the Free Press reported.
Media reports note that Dearborn-based attorney Amir Makled said that the plan is to convert the 773-room hotel into 375 apartments.
The hotel opened in 1976 as the Hyatt Regency, at 600 Town Center Drive, and was the second largest hotel in Michigan, second only to the Marriott in the Renaissance Center.
Hyatt ended its affiliation in 2012, when the condition of the hotel no longer met its standards.
The most recent owner of the hotel, Chinese-born Canadian Edward Gong, who bought it in 2016, relinquished the property when facing fraud and money-laundering charges in Canada.
The Free Press reported that the U.S. and Canadian government now own it jointly, and the U.S. Marshals Service is administering the sale of the property.
Media reports noted that last year an investor, who proposed converting the hotel to condominiums, backed out of the deal before closing on the property.
The revolving restaurant atop the hotel, which offers panoramic views, is still operational, the Free Press reported.
Media reports state that a small hotel might be added to the apartment mix.
Electrical power was cut to the hotel during the summer of 2020, and the property has faced challenges with trespassers, and some of the building’s electrical units have been stolen for the copper they contain.