TOPEKA (KSNT) – A Kansas company has some big ideas for transforming a local hotel into a vibrant asset of the City of Topeka.
27 News got in touch with Endeavor Hotel Group President and CEO Roy Arnold on July 16 to learn more about his company and its plans for Hotel Topeka. City leaders announced on July 15 they had signed off on a tentative deal to sell Hotel Topeka to Endeavor and get the ball rolling with a general reimagining of the building.
Endeavor currently manages seven hotels across the Midwest in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Minnesota. Arnold said the company is aiming to grow over the next five years by building a regional portfolio of 25-30 properties consisting of upscale hotels. He hopes to reach that objective by acquiring properties like Hotel Topeka and investing in them.
“We are not predominant,” Arnold said. “We have sold assets, but that’s not our primary objective. The assets we sold, we sold because we reached a glass ceiling we couldn’t break through.”
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Arnold said his company places emphasis on larger hotels that have attached conference centers and consist of 200 rooms or more with more than 10,000 square feet of space. The 224-room Hotel Topeka falls within that field. He envisions significant new developments at the hotel if the deal with the City of Topeka and Shawnee County is successful.
“In the case of the Hotel Topeka, not to get too far ahead, one thing we’ll do is brand it with a national brand,” Arnold said.
Arnold said he can see Hotel Topeka falling under the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts brand or its subsidiary Dolce Hotels and Resorts. He said Endeavor has a long-established relationship with Wyndham and recently acquired a hotel in Columbia, Missouri that is now part of the brand as of February this year.
“They [Wyndham] are now the largest hotel company in the world,” Arnold said. “They’re larger than Hilton, they’re larger than Marriot, they’re larger than IHG.”
Arnold said he expects Endeavor’s partnership and relationship with Wyndham will give it flexibility with the Hotel Topeka project. He said Wyndham would also help Endeavor figure out a plan that fits well with the Hotel Topeka and its future within the community.
“We actually looked at this hotel when it first came up for auction,” Arnold said. “We chose not to pursue it, not because we didn’t like it, but because we had a much larger strategic acquisition in progress. We made a decision not to participate in that auction.”
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The City of Topeka won the online auction for the hotel back in 2023 with a bid of $7.6 million. Since then, the city has invested a total of $12.2 million in improvements and repairs to the building.
City leaders hope to get a return on their investment into the hotel over the next 20 years through money gathered from a Community Improvement District and an incremental increase in the transient guest tax. Endeavor will kick in a $1 million cash payment for the hotel under the current arrangement and agree to investing $6 million into rehabbing the building.
Arnold said the city’s decision to acquire the hotel is part of a larger plan by local leaders to ensure the hotel is well-positioned for future development in Topeka. However, Topeka Public Works Director Braxton Copley called the building a “distressed asset” in early 2024 as costs began to rise with maintaining and fixing up the hotel.
“Fast forward to today, that asset is losing money,” Arnold said. “It’s underperforming the market.”
Arnold said part of the problem is the Maner Conference Center near the hotel not meeting expectations of clients or meeting planners who might be interested in using the space. The conference center is a point of some controversy this year due to air conditioning issues being reported there.
“I’ve got a pretty clear vision of what I think the Maner Conference Center needs to be,” Arnold said. “There’s gonna be more work required in the Maner Conference Center than the hotel.”
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Arnold also blames the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for harming conference centers like Maner. He said many places struggle to attract the large conferences put on by law enforcement or educational institutions in the years following the pandemic.
“It makes it much more problematic because if you look at the Topeka market, in terms of market performance, the market has never come back from pre-COVID,” Arnold said.
The next question is whether Shawnee County leaders will join the City of Topeka in signing on to the Endeavor’s proposal. County leadership must agree to provide Endeavor with a long-term management agreement for the conference center and agree to invest $6 million into rehabilitating Maner.
“I have spoken with the county,” Arnold said. “The county wanted to make sure there was a capable buyer of the hotel that they could enter into a parallel conversation with. The hotel will not be able to achieve what the city and people want until the conference center is refreshed.”
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Arnold envisions a plan for both the hotel and conference center for them to be developed side-by-side. He plans to get in touch with county leaders this week to get the ball rolling on the next round of discussions now that city leaders are on board.
Arnold said there is still a lot of paperwork that needs to be completed such as coming up with a development plan for the hotel and conference center. He believes a deal with the city and county may close by November of this year at the earliest or in January next year. Topeka City Manager Robert Perez has expressed a desire to hand off the hotel in 2025.
“I’m excited about the vision Endeavor brings to Hotel Topeka and the potential it holds for our community,” Perez said on July 15. “Selling the hotel was one of my top priorities this year, and it was important to the City Council and me that we find a buyer with the experience and resources to truly transform the property. Endeavor’s track record and strategic approach give us great confidence that this hotel will become a vibrant asset for Topeka once again.”
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Arnold said he hopes the deal moves forward for Hotel Topeka which can, with help from Endeavor, become a vital asset for the city. He said the hotel and the conference center can bring in thousands of visitors who will use Topeka shops, restaurants and attractions while they visit the city for conferences.
“My first impressions were very positive from the perspective of the interior ambiance as an atrium hotel,” Arnold said regarding the first time he visited Hotel Topeka. “It’s got a lot going for it. The rooms are a good size.”
27 News also asked if Endeavor has any plans to change the name of Hotel Topeka. Arnold said there are other conversations that need to happen first before consideration of a new name for the building. He is currently looking ahead with optimism on the deal and is hopeful for a productive conversation with county leaders.
“I like the conversations I’ve had with them [county leaders],” Arnold said. “They understand what needs to happen. I intend to reach out to them if not today, tomorrow to set up some meetings to have similar conversations with the county like we had with the city.”
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