Members of the Patel family, who operate several limited service hotels in the Capital Region, have acquired a 2.3-acre tract that sits behind the Racetrac gas station off La. 73 in Ascension Parish. They plan to develop the site into the Dutchtown’s first hotel.
AUM Investments—owned by several members of the Patel family, according to Louisiana Secretary of State filings—acquired the property on Friday for $1.05 million from AERIE, which is owned by Jeff Torrance of SALCO Construction. The deal was recorded Nov. 3 in the Ascension Parish Courthouse.
Chris Atkinson of Snappy Jacobs CCIM Real Estate Management, who represented the seller, confirms plans are in the works for a new limited service hotel, though he could not say what franchise the property will be.
This will be the first hotel in Dutchtown and it will be situated in a prime location to take advantage of business travelers drawn to the multitude of economic and industrial expansions in the area. The lot on which the hotel will be built sits next to vacant land that at one time was going to be a Walmart Neighborhood Market, but those plans have fallen through, Atkinson says. There’s no word on what might be developed on the site, which is also visible from Interstate 10. Ty Harvison of NAI/Latter & Blum Realtors represented the seller in the transaction. —Stephanie Riegel
