Mar. 29, 2002 - Questions about who will run Knoxville's largest hotel were apparently answered Thursday when a new owner/operator was identified in city records. 

Marriott will replace longtime downtown hotelier Hyatt Regency when the Hyatt closes next month, according to business license applications filed Thursday with the city finance department's business tax office. 

Marriott Knoxville will open Tuesday, April 30, at 500 Hill Ave., where the Hyatt has operated since 1972, one of two applications stated. 

Hyatt has been managing the property under a 30-year lease that expires April 27. 

The Hyatt property is also changing hands as hotel operators switch, the filings state. A corporation called Columbia Properties Memphis LLC is listed as new owner of the 12-story, 385-room hotel, which has 35,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space. 

Details of a property sale weren't included in the applications. 

A market report issued to prospective buyers of the Hyatt property earlier this year listed it for sale at $15 million. The hotel generated more than $12 million in revenue in 2000 and had net operating income of $1.2 million, according to the report. 

Principals in Columbia Properties include a limited liability corporation called CSC Holdings, identified as a 100 percent owner; William J. Yung of Naples, Fla., as president; Edward Rofes of Burlington, Ky., as vice president for finance; and Theodore R. Mitchel of Cincinnati as secretary/treasurer. 

Yung founded Columbia Sussex Corp., a leading U.S. hotel operator with headquarters in the Cincinnati suburb of Fort Mitchell, Ky. 

Columbia Properties also applied to the city of Knoxville for a permit to sell beer, liquor by the drink and wine, as well as a catering license. 

The hotel property has seen a flurry of activity in recent weeks culminating in the pending change in ownership and hotel management. 

A limited partnership called Knoxville Civic Development Corp. headed by Memphis financial consultant Wise Jones exercised a long-standing option earlier this month to buy the seven-acre parcel on which the hotel was built in the early 1970s. The partnership acquired the land for $470,254. 

The partnership also bought the 263-space Hyatt parking garage from the city for $420,000. It was built in 1975. 

Knoxville Civic Development Corp. has owned the hotel building as part of a complex financial deal struck in the late 1960s. 

Jones did not return phone calls for comment Thursday. Marriott International Inc. officials also didn't return phone calls. 

A property transfer for the address had not been recorded with Knox County's Register of Deeds office as of Thursday afternoon. 

A Hyatt Corp. spokeswoman initially confirmed Thursday that the property transfer would take place today, then called back to say she couldn't confirm that. She said information could be released today. 

Marriott had been mentioned as the operator of a $59 million, 415-room hotel near Knoxville's new convention center on Henley Street at Cumberland Avenue. Now Hyatt is being mentioned as a potential operator of that hotel if it gets off the ground. 

Mike Carrier, head of the Knoxville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Jones had told him negotiations were under way to sell the hotel property but no names were mentioned. 

Carrier said he looks forward to working with the hotel's new management. "Marriott is a quality company and a quality flag." He said he would also welcome Hyatt's participation in any new downtown hotel. 

Columbia Properties' Fort Mitchell, Ky., address is the same as Columbia Sussex Corp. A Columbia Sussex executive said Thursday the company can't comment on the Marriott opening. 

According to reports, Yung founded Columbia Sussex in 1972, and the company now owns and operates more than 50 hotels in nearly 25 states, Canada and the Caribbean. It is the largest full service Marriott franchisee and the third-largest, full-service Holiday Inn franchisee. It also operates hotels under the Westin, Sheraton, Crowne Plaza and Hilton flags. 

Columbia Sussex affiliates also operate casinos, an airline, a tour company and TGI Friday's restaurants. The company has been listed among the top 10 U.S. hotel owner/operators, with more than 14,000 rooms. Reports say it's the third-largest privately held business in the Cincinnati area, with revenues of more than $515 million and 7,800 employees. 

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(c) 2002, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. MAR, SXC, HOT, TGI,