May 25, 2012--The sprawling, blue-and-white Econo Lodge on International Drive has been sold to a Brazilian corporation after 21/2 years on the market.

The hotel, at 8738 International Drive, had been in foreclosure since 2010. It showed its age during an episode of the CBS television show "Undercover Boss," in which a good-natured -- and unsuspecting -- maintenance worker revealed problems such as broken locks and a leaky roof to the chief executive officer of Choice Hotels International, owner of the Econo brand.

The new owners of the hotel, which is midway between Sand Lake Road and the Orange County Convention Center, expect to close it, gut it and renovate it, said Marco Manzie, president of Paramount Hospitality Management, which will operate the property once it reopens.

Manzie said the property will reopen as an upper-midscale, independently owned hotel called Avanti Resort.

Manzie, whose company operates two nearby hotels, the Pointe Orlando Resort and Floridays Resort, said the Econo's buyers did not wish to be identified. HREC Investment Advisors represented the seller, CW Capital. A sale price was not disclosed.

Manzie said the property is expected to reopen late this fall.

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