Invictus Equity Group, a Detroit-based investment company, has purchased a controlling interest in Detroit’s iconic Hotel St. Regis, effective immediately.
Invictus partner Tony Saunders said former GM Executive Roy S. Roberts also is investing with Invictus in the St. Regis and that a previous owner of the St. Regis, the O’Neil D. Swanson Family, will continue with a significant ownership position in the hotel.
Saunders said the new ownership team plans to make an estimated $6 million in renovations to the structure, including installing a new lobby bar, while making renovations to the restaurant, the rooms and the hotel conference center. The renovations are expected to start in the next 90 days. They also plan to complete a redesign of the restaurant, opening it up to the large exterior patio on W. Grand Blvd. The team is also exploring the creation of a roof top patio with panoramic view of the Fisher Building and downtown Detroit.
“It’s a gorgeous building with a lot of history and when you look at all of the energy that is shifting into the New Center area at this time, we feel it has the potential to be an anchor institution for the area,” Saunders said. “The fact that it is located close to the last stop on the Q Line adds to its attractiveness and the impact it can have on the area. We are looking to create a dynamic experience that will keep people coming back for more.”
Architects for the renovations will be McIntosh Poris Associates, whose most recent projects include converting Detroit’s downtown Fire Headquarters into the Detroit Foundation Hotel. General contractor will be Rockford Construction, Kyle Evans Design will serve as project designer and the hotel management company will be AHC+Hospitality. The contractor will be utilizing minority-owned subcontractors to do much of the work as the renovations move forward.
“We are excited by the potential Invictus brings to the future of the hotel,” said O’Neil Swanson, president and founder of Swanson Funeral Home and a co-owner of the hotel. “We share their vision for updating its facilities and believe with their involvement and leadership we will achieve the goals for the hotel that my family envisioned when we took an ownership position several years ago. We look forward to working with them.”
The Hotel St. Regis Detroit opened in August of 1966. It was designed to be an elegant, old world hotel that it could serve not only General Motors executives traveling to and from GM World headquarters, which was then located across West Grand Boulevard from the hotel, but other sophisticated travelers as well. It is connected by skywalk both with Cadillac Place, the former GM World Headquarters, and the Fisher Building.
Hotel guests through the years have included Martin Luther King, Jr., Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger, Andrew Young, George Clinton, Billy Dee Williams, Pharrell, Jay Leno and Pat Morita.
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