Ending months of uncertainty about the fate of one of downtown Eau Claire’s most prominent landmarks, a firm led by Eau Claire software entrepreneur Zach Halmstad announced it has purchased the former Ramada Convention Center.

Halmstad is co-founder of JAMF Software and leader of Pablo Properties, which has purchased the hotel from Dougherty Funding of Minneapolis. According to a press release, Pablo Properties is working with building contractor Market & Johnson on an “aggressive plan” to renovate the hotel and re-open it before 2014 is out.

Zach Halmstad, co-founder
of JAMF Software

"This property was the center of downtown when I was growing up,” said Halmstad, an Eau Claire native and UW-Eau Claire graduate. “We went there for holiday meals and special events.” However, he added, "We’ve seen it deteriorate over the last 10 years to the spot that businesses refuse to house their visitors there," and he hopes to change that.

Halmstad said he plans to reduce the number of rooms in the eight-story hotel from 123 to between 80 and 90 to allow for the creation of bigger suites and rooms. In addition, the hotel’s first floor will be entirely remodeled to make way for a new restaurant and coffee shop, and the convention center space will be renovated as well. “We have an incredible amount of shared space in the building, but it is not well maintained and is poorly utilized,” Halmstad said. “We have plans to redesign the entire first floor and house a restaurant that focuses on great, locally sourced food. We hope that this space will be a benefit both for travelers and local citizens.”

This announcement adds to the growing excitement about the future of lodging in downtown Eau Claire. In mid-December it was announced that a group of partners, of which Halmstad is also a part, had purchased the Green Tree Inn, 516 Galloway St., with plans to convert it into a creative “boutique” hotel by late this year or early 2015. Both hotel projects had been in development for quite some time, and the two properties plan to work together to create efficiencies and share services while still creating two distinct identities.

Currently, Pablo's most visible contribution to downtown Eau Claire's ongoing renaissance is their building of a new 72,000-square-foot office for JAMF Software next to Phoenix Park. That building, which will have room for as many as 300 employees, is slated for completion later this year.

"We keep track of groups that want to come to Eau Claire with a specific request for a downtown property.  For the past few years we have been unable to accommodate them at a quality property. This has translated to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lost potential business for Eau Claire." – Linda John, executive director of Visit Eau Claire The former Ramada, 205 S. Barstow St., was built in 1976 and originally operated as a Hilton. The facility had a rough year in 2013: It underwent foreclosure after its then-owner, SB Hotel Management, had trouble paying bills; it was the subject of three sheriff’s sales; and it was finally closed Nov. 24. The property’s mortgage holder, Dougherty Funding of Minneapolis, was the winning (and only) bidder at the final sheriff’s sale on Dec. 3. According to online property records, the lender sold the hotel to a Halmstad-linked corporation on Dec. 27 for $1.62 million.

"We keep track of groups that want to come to Eau Claire with a specific request for a downtown property.  For the past few years we have been unable to accommodate them at a quality property," said Linda John, executive director of Visit Eau Claire. "This has translated to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lost potential business for Eau Claire.  This announcement by Pablo Properties has huge economic impact potential for Eau Claire, while also serving the local community that has had to look elsewhere for reliable meeting space."

A new name for the hotel has not been chosen, and the new owners haven’t yet decided if it will become part of a franchise or whether it will be operated independently. Keep an eye on VolumeOne.org and the next print edition of Volume One for more on this developing story.