The families have purchased the Israels Designs for Living furniture store building and will combine that with neighboring property to build a new hotel, which will have 200 to 400 rooms. Terms of the purchase agreement were not disclosed.
"We think this is an A-plus location," Joseph Tomaselli, Amway Hotel Corp. president, says. "It's central to the Amway Grand and DeVos Place and it's central to the business district."
Tomaselli says he was not sure whether the 117-year-old Israels' building would be razed, but the store is expected to be closed by October 2004, with the business to move to another Downtown building. Amway also owns another Downtown hotel, a Courtyard by Marriott.
A year ago, DeVos and Van Andel purchased a vacant retirement home across the street from the convention center for use as a possible hotel site. That project has been shelved in favor of the Israels site, Tomaselli adds.
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