Ramada under new ownership

Natchez Staff

Published Tuesday, July 26, 2005

NATCHEZ - Management confirmed Tuesday the Ramada Hilltop is indeed under new ownership.

Previous owners Charisma Corp. of America, which does business as the Ramada Hilltop, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 24 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Jackson.

Rockville, Md.-based lender Criimi Mae took ownership of the hotel in June, said Bonnie Stanley, regional director of operations for Crescent Hospitality, which manages the Ramada.

According to its Web site, publicly traded Criimi Mae (NYSE symbol: CMM) is a full-service commercial mortgage company that owns and manages a significant portfolio of commercial mortgage-related assets.

It is structured as a real estate investment trust - a security that sells like a stock on the major exchanges and invests in real estate directly, either through properties or mortgages.

Stanley wouldn't comment further on the hotel's new ownership.

But Stanley did say that since Crescent, a Fairfax Station, Va., company, began managing the hotel in mid-December, it has upgraded the hotel in several ways.

Those include replacement of a leaky roof, installation of new air conditioning units, bathroom renovations in the 300 building and new carpeting.

She added that the company will decide what to upgrade in 2006 when it works on the next fiscal year's budget this fall.

The Ramada is one of Natchez's four convention-grade hotels, according to the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau.

It contains 17 percent of the city's hotel rooms.