PITTSBURGH Texas-based Omni Hotels Corp. has agreed to purchase the Westin William Penn, a 595-room downtown hotel here built in the early 1900s from Atlanta-based Lodgian, its current owner. The hotel is expected to change hands on January 31 and will be renamed the Omni William Penn Hotel. As part of the sale, Omni intends to spend more than $20 million on renvations to the lobby, guestrooms and some of the hotels mechanical systems.
Omnis decision to purchase the William Penn comes amid an expansion of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. is considering a new upscale hotel two blocks from the convention center and a Denver development company is spending $44 million on the transformation of the Fulton Buidling into a Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel. Next to the convention center, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is taking over management of the Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh, which is officially being renamed The Westin Convetion Center Pittsburgh. (1/18/01)
SOURCE:The Post-Gazette