CLEVELAND (AP) — Downtown Cleveland, where Ohio's first casino opened in May, is gaining 232 apartments but at the cost of a hotel and its 100 jobs.
The developer K&D Group of Willoughby plans to close the Embassy Suites hotel in December and convert the space to apartments like the rest of its high-rise building.
The 252-suite hotel slid into foreclosure in November.
K&D bought out the mortgage and landed financing for a $3 million apartment makeover. K&D is the largest private owner of apartments in northeast Ohio.
K&D CEO Doug Price tells The Plain Dealer (http://bit.ly/TxPqPv ) the hotel was not profitable despite a two-thirds occupancy rate.
Downtown Cleveland apartments are thriving, with an occupancy rate approaching 97 percent.
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