The city finalized the sale of the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, one year after buying it to preserve it as a hotel.
Steve Horve, owner of Lakeview Hospitality, will spend about six months renovating the facility. Several hotel franchises have already been approached about opting into the hotel. Doubletree was named as a candidate.
The city paid more than $7 million to acquire and provide operational expenses for the hotel after discovering it would be put up for auction and possibly could be changed to something other than a hotel, city staff said.
The facility is an important asset to city revenue. It was used as a base camp for the crew of the Matt Damon film The Informant while they filmed in Decatur and as the setting of the Illinois Republican Convention in June.
