Cedar Rapids Marriott Hotel for sale

CEDAR RAPIDS — The 220-room, seven-floor Marriott Hotel at 1200 Collins Rd. NE in Cedar Rapids is going up for sale starting May 2.

The starting bid for the hotel auction is $3.2 million with bidding running through May 4.

Jeff Berkman, of real estate agency Hodges Ward Elliott, confirmed the hotel is for sale but did not provide further information.

The online listing points out it is “the only full-service Marriott hotel in the market and one of only three Marriott-affiliated hotels” in Cedar Rapids. The hotel is located next to Collins Aerospace, “which generates a consistent flow of demand.”

The building is 187,782 square feet on 8.32 acres, according to the listing. The listing suggests several “value-add projects” — upgrades that could be undertaken to improve property value — like renovation, room type conversion and developing or selling a one-acre parcel.

The hotel has been a place for company meetings for Collins Aerospace, presidential candidates’ meetings with voters and other events.

The Cedar Rapids Marriott ballroom was full of competitors and participants for the 2022 Heartland Championship Saturday, April 30, 2022. (Amir Prellberg/Freelance)

People arrive for a special meeting of shareholders for Rockwell Collins at the Cedar Rapids Marriott in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. (Stephen Mally/The Gazette)

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks during a town hall event at the Marriott Hotel in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. (Adam Wesley/The Gazette)

The $14 million hotel opened in 1988 as the Collins Plaza and Convention Center. It became the Cedar Rapids Marriott in 2004, which included a renovation of guest rooms and a redesign of the ballrooms, meeting rooms and public spaces.

John Q. Hammons Hotels transferred the hotel in September 2005 to current owner Atrium Finance I LP under a no-consideration deed.

Atrium Finance’s address on the Cedar Rapids Assessor’s website is the same as Atrium Hospitality, a Georgia-based company managing more than 80 hotels of various brands in the country.

In Iowa, Atrium Hospitality’s hotels include the Cedar Rapids Marriott, Embassy Suites by Hilton in downtown Des Moines and a Sheraton in West Des Moines.

Marriott and Atrium Hospitality did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hotel was damaged in the August 2020 derecho. Cedar Rapids Assessor’s Office records show it underwent repairs, including replacement of wet drywall on floors one through seven, and replacement of two letters on the Marriott sign.

Atrium Finance filed a petition in Linn County District Court against the Cedar Rapids Board of Review in June 2022 challenging the 2022 assessment of just under $9.4 million for the Collins Road hotel.

Atrium protested the valuation with the board, and that protest was denied in May 2022.

“Atrium appeals this value because the property is assessed for more than the value authorized by law,” the petition said.

The petition asks the court to reverse the board’s decision and reduce the property’s valuation. A nonjury trial is schedule for Nov. 28.

The property’s valuation increased again this year to $10.5 million.

Comments: (319) 339-3155; izabela.zaluska@thegazette.com