Holiday Inn Express & Suites returning to downtown Detroit

Just call it the Holiday Inn-And-Out-And-Back-Inn.

It was just in January when we reported that the Holiday Inn Express & Suites signage was removed from the facade of the building on Washington and Michigan avenues in downtown Detroit.

Now, just a few months later, new temporary Holiday Inn Express & Suites signage hangs from the hotel's awning, which prompted our news hounds to wander in and ask the lobby host, "What's up?" (That's a professional interrogation technique we learned in journalism school.)

He did in fact confirm that the hotel would again be called Holiday Inn Express & Suites within the next couple of weeks, but couldn't offer up any explanation for the strange chain of name-changing events.

So we took our research efforts to Google, but after 30 seconds of relentless tracking, we realized that the "why" in this case really isn't all that interesting. Maybe they were just changing their signs from blue to green. Or maybe Holiday Inn altered the standards it demands of hotels using its name. Or maybe (and I think this theory has some merit) just maybe the national chain didn't want to run the risk of hosting Charlie Sheen and his gang while they were in town.

Is the Holiday Inn out in downtown Detroit?

Back in the '60s, this building on Washington Boulevard in downtown Detroit was home to a Howard Johnson's Hotel. In the decades since, it's been a Mariner's Inn, a Day's Inn, and a Best Western. For a brief stint, it was even called the Heaven on Earth Inn.

In recent years, the Book-Cadillac's neighbor to the south has been a Holiday Inn Express, and now it appears another name change is on deck.

What's left, Red Roof Inn?

The Holiday Inn Express signage on the front and sides of the building have been not-so-discretely covered with what looks like duct tape. (I think it actually a big, silver garbage bad.) Some reports have said the hotel is negotiating with Best Western to once again join that family. For now, hotel desk workers are reportedly answering the  phones by introducing "Downtown Detroit Inn & Suites". When I tried calling, the phones weren't working, although I did stop by and the hotel is definitely still open.

Hopefully, time will tell that this amounts to nothing more than a name change for one of downtown Detroit's hotels, rather than one step toward seeing another hotel close. Either way, the timing couldn't be worse. Auto show crowds are already making their way to town, and I doubt anyone will think to book a room at The Duct Tape Inn.

The Detroit Riverside Hotel (you'll always be the Pontchartrain to us)

It's sad, really. The Detroit Riverside Hotel (be honest, have you ever heard that name before?) sort of gets lost in the shuffle whenever people do a head-count of "Detroit buildings that aren't used." Maybe its status as a vacant building isn't old enough to qualify, kind of like Brennan Bosch and his batting average.

Anyway, the Riverside Hotel is more commonly remembered as the Pontchartrain Hotel, a 1960s-era hotel designed to offer a river view to anybody staying in any of the hotel's 367 rooms. That explains the jagged design; pretty crafty.

The Pontchartrain was a popular place through the 1970s, even hosted George H.W. Bush during the Republican Convention in 1980, but it's been all downhill from there. Investor Charles Keating got involved during the 1980s, and we know how most of his work turned out.

Most recently a group tried to breathe new life into the Pontchartrain by renovating it in 2007 and renaming it the Detroit Riverside Hotel. They apparently weren't discouraged that the hotel isn't really that close to the river. Unfortunately, the renovation failed, the hotel went into foreclosure in August of 2009 and it's been standing there quietly ever since, just waiting for the day when people will shut up about the old Michigan Train Depot and pay a little more attention to newer, shinier vacant buildings.

The Omni Hotel: 108 rooms and a view

The Omni Hotel often gets lost in the Detroit hotel shuffle of bigger name digs like the Book-Cadillac, the RenCen Marriott and the casino hotels, which is a shame. From the outside, the Omni is a beaut, located right on the RiverWalk between Chene Park and the Belle Isle Bridge. I've never been inside, but I'm hoping to book a room sometime this summer.

Figuring the old building probably has a pretty cool history, I sent our crack research team looking for info, and found more than I bargained for. (Note: the Michigan Historical Sites website is really cool, if you're into that kind of stuff.) The building, it turns out, was constructed in 1902 as the Parke-Davis Research Laboratory, the leader in pharmacological research in the country. It was the first industrial laboratory devoted exclusively to pharmacological research, and was responsible for, among other things, many of the "wonder drugs" that we take for granted today.

And now it's a hotel, and a National Historic Landmark to boot!

Christmas in Detroit: The Milner Hotel dons its holiday best

Walk around downtown Detroit, and every now and then you stumble across a little area that just feels like a different city. No freeways, no stadiums, just quiet little blocks that you didn’t know were there.

Found another one the other day.

I’ve been down Centre Street before, and I’ve seen the Milner Hotel many times. I even took D-Smack in one time to take a leak on the way to a Tiger game. But I spotted it again the other day all decked out for the holidays and it looked like something off a postcard, like there should be a 5-and-dime next door and guy ringing a bell out front.

So I put our crack research team on the case (thanks again to our friends at Google) and learned some interesting things about the Milner. One, it’s the oldest continuously operated hotel in Detroit, having opened in 1917 as the Henry Clay Hotel. And two, it bills itself as “America’s first hotel chain”, with buildings in Detroit, Boston, L.A. and Raleigh.

Fort Shelby Hotel to re-open as Doubletree

Let's cross our fingers that all the work has been worth it. After a couple of years of extensive refurbishing, the old Fort Shelby Hotel in Detroit is about ready to open again as part of the Doubletree chain. For anyone not familiar with the hotel, it's located just across the street from WDIV between Lafayette and Fort, not far from the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, the Anchor Bar, Joe Louis Arena and Cobo Hall.

As someone who's watching most of the redevelopment downtown center around the Foxtown or Campus Martius areas, its nice to see some of the attention find its way down Fort St.

Old-timers might remember that the original Fort Shelby Hotel, which closed in the '80s, I believe, about the time the rest of Detroit did, housed the Anchor Bar. The bar has since moved about a block-and-a-half up Fort St.

The new Doubletree, from what I hear, is supposed to open Dec. 15, and watching the day-by-day reconstruction has been really cool. I don't believe the entire building is ready for occupants, but enough is that they're planning on sticking to their Dec. 15 opening. From outside, some of the street-level additions look cool, and sure will be nice for those of us who work in the neighborhood. I've heard that a bar, restaurant and coffee shop will be opening.

If you get a chance, check it out some time. The picture I've included was taken back in October, and a lot of work has been done since. They've re-paved the sidewalk out front and added a large awning facing Lafayette. To me, the big difference is seeing a building with all of its windows in place.