March 17–The Lane Hotel is changing names for the second time in five years.

The sign in downtown Keene that for the last four years has said, “The Lane Hotel” now says, “Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott.”

On the hotel’s website, an announcement reads, “We are pleased to announce that we will be converting to a Fairfield Inn by Marriott beginning March 21, 2015.”

The hotel will remain under the ownership of Colwen Management of Nashua, according to Heidi J. Hale, Colwen’s sales manager for both the Marriott and former Lane Hotel.

But Hale said the hotel will now become a Marriott brand. The most notable changes will include the new name, and guests will now be able to earn Marriott rewards at the hotel, according to Hale.

The hotel will retain its Historic Hotels of America status, Hale said. That is a designation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is given to hotels that maintain their historic characteristics.

It will also have a new breakfast buffet, she noted, adding that the hotel’s meeting room has been converted to a breakfast room.

The Main Street hotel and the space it occupies have a long history in Keene.

It was originally named for E.F. Lane — or Elijah Franklin — the landowner and developer and great-great grandfather of Keene’s current mayor, Kendall W. Lane.

Elijah Lane purchased the building in 1890, and it has since served many purposes. For awhile, it was Goodnow’s department store, a hardware store and also a space for offices, according to Kendall Lane.

In 2010 the hotel, then known as the E.F. Lane Hotel, faced foreclosure due to late mortgage payments and back taxes.

The private, nonprofit Monadnock Economic Development Corp. bought the property at auction, used a Community Development Block Grant to redevelop the property, and sold it to Colwen Management of Nashua, the development corporation’s Chairman John G. Dugan said Monday.

Over four months, Monadnock Economic Development Corp. renovated nearly the entire hotel, including a full-service restaurant, a new lobby and all 40 rooms.

The hotel reopened in May 2011 as the Lane Hotel, with Colwen Management, which also runs the Courtyard Marriott on Railroad Street.

Colwen Management bought the hotel in 2013, Hale said.

Lane said he had no comment on the hotel’s name change.

“I’m sure it’s a marketing effort,” he said. “I hope they’re successful. I know a lot of people that have stayed there at the hotel and have been very pleased with it.

“There are a lot of buildings in the downtown that have some connections with E.F. Lane,” he said. “Probably a third of the buildings in downtown were either built by him, or he was the contractor.”

Sentinel staff writer Ella Nilsen contributed to this report.