Antlers Hilton Hotel could be sold

The Antlers Hilton in downtown Colorado Springs could have a new owner.

Attorney Perry R. Sanders Jr, confirmed to KRDO NewsChannel 13 that a deal is being contracted for him and a business partner to purchase the Antlers Hotel.

The deal won’t be closed for 60 days and terms of the deal are confidential.

Sanders said he’s had a long-lasting interest in the Antlers.

“When I first used to come to Colorado Springs, when I was working here, I always stayed at the Antlers. And I always really loved the views, the broad scenery of downtown, and I’ve always had a longtime love of the hotel,” Sanders said.

It became a fixture of Colorado Springs history long ago.

The Antlers first opened in 1883, after the land and some construction costs were donated by General William Jackson Palmer.

Fifteen years later, it burned to the ground but was rebuilt and re-opened in 1901.

“It was a part of the Colorado Springs economy, and it’s a part of the Colorado Springs image,” said Dennis Daily with the Pike’s Peak Library.

Sanders has renovated hotels before. He purchased The Mining Exchange, A Wyndham Grand Hotel in Colorado Springs and renovated it into an upscale establishment. He’s hoping to do the same again.

“We intend to retrofit this hotel. The rooms, which is really the part that needs retrofitting by our examination of it,” Sanders said.

The hotel fell into foreclosure two years ago, but was purchased by a lender for $38 million.