Flintco Buys Reniassance Hotel

A high profile property off Interstate 25 and Interquest Parkway has finally sold.

The John Q. Hammon Renaissance Hotel was auctioned off Thursday morning.

The winning, and only, bidder was the construction company who built it, Flintco. However, it’s already looking to sell.

Construction on the 50,000 square foot hotel came to an abrupt stop two years ago, when owner John Q. Hammon stopped paying the builders.

“When the market changed, financing of hotels went in the tank. He got caught in that,” said Flintco CEO Tom Maxwell.

El Paso County decided to sell the hotel to pay off the debt. Flintco construction stepped in to save the day with a purchase price of $22.2 million. But it’s not a happy ending.

“It’s really a pretty sad day. John Q. Hammon we’ve built a lot of hotels around the country for and enjoyed it. We had a very good relationship and are still friends today,” said Maxwell.

Before Flintco shut the project down, workers finished the outside of the building to protect it from weather, but the inside is far from done.

“None of the rooms are finished at all. Drywall is not even up,” said Maxwell.

Maxwell said there is about nine months of work left to do on the property and is hoping his company will be able to finish it, but first, he has to find a buyer.

“Our goal is to sell is quickly, that way we have a finished hotel and Colorado Springs can have the asset it was meant to be,” he said.

No work will be done on the hotel until it’s sold, said Maxwell.

The new buyer will also have a say in whether to keep it as the Reniassance Hotel or change it to something else.