Suburban Inns, which operates hotels and restaurants in Grand Rapids, Holland and
Midland, has decided not to go through with its plan to purchase the Big Rapids Holiday
Inn Hotel and Conference Center from Ferris State University.
“Suburban Inns’ due diligence concluded that to make all of the necessary changes
to satisfy the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) franchise requirements and to go
above and beyond to meet its own core values, the project was not viable for us,”
according to Brian Beukema, president of Property Development of Suburban Inns.
He added, “We are disappointed that this deal will not work for our family business. We were looking forward to becoming part of the Big Rapids community.”
Jerry Scoby, Ferris’ vice president for Administration and Finance, said, “The university also is very disappointed that this purchase will not work for the Beukema family. We felt they would have been very good neighbors and community partners.”
The university, which has owned the facility since construction was completed in 1990, plans to reactivate marketing efforts immediately to identify another buyer for the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center property in Big Rapids.
Day-to-day operations at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center will continue as normal.