The Perry City Council accepted the donation of the Hotel Pattee from Perry Economic Development Inc. (PEDI) at its Monday night meeting, the latest step in the public-private partnership aiming to sustain the town’s central economic asset.
The gift was 2.5 years in the making. With city help — to the tune of about $350,000 in public funds — PEDI bought the hotel and La Poste for about $1.6 million in April 2021 and then assembled a local management team to operate it and also paid for some long-deferred infrastructure maintenance on the century-old building. Several large-dollar corporate donations and some 100 donations from individuals and businesses made the transition possible.
City ownership is now intended “to ensure the proper care and maintenance of the properties,” according to the resolution approved by the city council Monday. The 110-year-old hotel was appraised in 2017 at about $4 million.
“There’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of time working towards this goal,” said Perry Mayor John Andorf. “This is not the end but really the beginning as we move forward with the city taking this over and making it happen.”
PEDI President Jeff Huitt, who joined the council discussion via Zoom from the cab of his combine, also praised the sustained efforts of the PEDI-Perry committee that brought the hotel deal to completion.
“I’m really excited about this,” Huitt said. “My eyes were opened to all the hard work that went on and all the hard work that will continue to go on to make this thing a success.”
PEDI members Deb Lucht, Matt McDevitt, Dan Spellman and Mike Van Houweling were also present at Monday night’s meeting for the handover to the city. The PEDI committee delivered a report last month to the council on the hotel’s current status.
As longtime PEDI member Bill Clark noted, it was 30 years ago, on Sept. 9, 1993, that Howard Ahmanson and Roberta Green Ahmanson bought the Hotel Pattee at auction and proceeded to renovate the then-80-year-old structure into one of the country’s notable boutique hotels.
The business has continued as a significant economic asset to Perry, bringing some 65,000 people to Perry yearly and adding between $5 million and $15 million to the area’s economic base, according to social economists using federal multipliers.
After the Ahmansons sold the hotel in 2007, three different owners came and went before the city and PEDI acquired the property in 2021. The first year proved relatively stable for the enterprise, and the second year has also been profitable, according to the PEDI report presented in September.
Perry Hospitality Inc. assumed management of the Hotel Pattee and La Poste’s operations in July 2022. The management company is composed of Perry residents Tom Burkgren, Sue Kimpston, Alan Peitz, Monica Peitz and Jenny Eklund. The company recently signed a new three-year lease to continue running the facilities.
Looking forward, the PEDI report recommended hiring a third-party advertising firm to devise a “destination marketing plan” for the hotel and the city and to “prepare to capitalize on the High Trestle Connector Trail,” slated to open in the summer 2024.
