Apr. 23--Richmond is facing a new twist in its downtown redevelopment efforts. 

A hotel management company in Rhode Island has bought the controlling interest in the Richmond Marriott Hotel. 

The Procaccianti Group of Cranston, R.I., purchased the first lien on the property from First Union Bank for $10.4 million. 

The city is pleased with the purchase, said Edwin Gaskin, deputy director of Richmond's economic development department. 

"We've had a very healthy and productive dialogue between the city and the Procaccianti Group," Gaskin said yesterday. 

The new mortgage holder apparently plans to improve and expand the hotel but could not be reached for comment. 

It faces some unknowns as the present hotel owners work out a financial reorganization plan in bankruptcy court in Richmond. 

The company owns 16 hotels, mostly in the Northeast, but it also owns the Sheraton Richmond West here. 

Properties include four Radisson Hotels, two Hilton Hotels, two Holiday Inns and a Comfort Inn. None is a Marriott. 

The present hotel owner -- Mutual Benefit/Marriott Hotel Associates -- filed for bankruptcy protection in December to stop foreclosure on the property. 

The owner, a private partnership made up of 165 people, owed a total of $46.5 million to the city and other creditors, including the $10.4 million to First Union, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court here. 

Marriott International manages the hotel on behalf of the partnership. 

Chicago developer Gary A. Beller, a key figure in the city's downtown redevelopment effort, had planned to control and refurbish the hotel. 

"His original role with the Marriott has been reduced, but he is still actively involved in the overall project," Gaskin said. 

"When you're dealing with a foreclosure and bankruptcy, it's always a shifting playing field," he said. "First Union dealt a new hand." 

City plans include converting the old Miller & Rhoads building into a 216-room hotel with restaurants and shops. The 6th Street Marketplace would be demolished along with the Woolworth's and G.C. Murphy buildings on Broad Street. 

The block that formerly housed the Thalhimers department store would be transformed into a performing arts center. The center would include an expanded Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts and a new home for TheatreVirginia. 

Beller said yesterday he is glad the hotel is in good hands. 

"We needed to have it in friendly hands," he said. "The Marriott is such a central piece of the downtown effort. If it didn't get in the right hands, it could have been negative for the redevelopment efforts." 

The hotel got into financial trouble when it lost a major revenue stream after the old convention center closed and construction on the new one started in April 2000. The center's exhibition hall is scheduled to open late this year. 

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