The Edward Hotel & Convention Center, formerly the Hyatt Regency Dearborn hotel, was a 14-story, 773-room former conference center hotel located in the

Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...

suburb of

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

. Until its closure in 2018, it was the second largest hotel in Michigan, after the Marriott in Detroit's

Renaissance Center The Renaissance Center, commonly known as the RenCen, is a complex of seven connected skyscrapers in downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. Located on the Detroit International Riverfront, the RenCen is owned and used by General Motors ...

History

The hotel was constructed in 1976 as the Hyatt Regency Dearborn. Originally built as an upscale hotel, the building included a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

-designed

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small-scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks ...

to Fairlane Mall. The people mover, hotel, and mall were supposed to be part of a larger office, retail, and residential complex built by Ford's land development subsidiary. The people mover was a Ford Motor Company prototype for an Automatically Controlled Transportation System and was closed in 1988, and ultimately removed. The hotel originally had a

revolving restaurant A revolving restaurant or rotating restaurant is a tower restaurant designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving wikt:platform, platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on the rev ...

on its top floor, a

helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...

and featured 800 rooms when it first opened. The high-rise hotel contains a

conference center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

, a retail area, and a fitness center. The architect,

Charles Luckman Charles Luckman (May 16, 1909 – January 26, 1999) was an American businessman, property developer, and architect known for designing landmark buildings in the United States such as the Theme Building, Prudential Tower, Madison Square Garden, ...

, designed the hotel in a contemporary

Modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

style with glass as the main exterior material. The hotel was built by the

Del E. Webb Corporation The Del E. Webb Construction Company was a construction company that was founded in 1928 and developed by Del Webb. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, it became the Del E. Webb Corporation a publicly traded company on the New York ...

. The hotel is adjacent to

Fairlane Town Center Fairlane Town Center is a super-regional shopping mall in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan. The mall is adjacent to The Henry Hotel, The Fairlane Club, the University of Michigan–Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College, The Henry For ...

shopping mall,

Ford World Headquarters The Henry Ford II World Center, also commonly known as the Ford World Headquarters and popularly known as the Glass House, is the administrative headquarters for Ford Motor Company, a 12-story, glass-faced office building designed to accommodat ...

, and

The Henry Ford The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, within Metro Detroit. The museum collection contai ...

Museum and Greenfield Village. The hotel was renamed Adoba Hotel Dearborn / Detroit on November 1, 2012, and the Royal Dearborn Hotel and Convention Center in 2015. Canadian businessman

Xiao Hua Gong Xiao Hua Gong (; born ), also known as Edward Gong, is a Chinese-Canadian businessman and politician, former theatre director, and former pyramid scheme operator. Gong served as Deputy Director of the China Council for the Promotion of Internat ...

, also known as Edward Gong, bought the hotel for $20 million in 2016 and renamed it after himself, calling it first the Edward Village Michigan Hotel, then the Edward Hotel & Convention Center. On December 14, 2018, the hotel was deemed "unfit for human occupancy" by the City of Dearborn and condemned and closed due to fire code violations and lack of necessary permits. The hotel was seized from Gong by US and Canadian authorities in 2021, after his business empire imploded as a result of multi-national criminal investigations in the US, Canada and New Zealand. On September 18, 2021, the vacant structure was sold by the

United States Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...

to an unnamed buyer. The buyer announced plans to convert the 773-room hotel to 375 apartments, while possibly retaining a small hotel portion. The buyer was later revealed to be an affiliate of New York-based firm Rhodium Capital Advisors. Construction never started, and the Rhodium affiliate defaulted on the property's mortgage, prompting a

sheriff's sale A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...

in June 2024.

Notes

External links

*
Google Maps location
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edward Hotel and Convention Center Skyscrapers in Dearborn, Michigan Hotel buildings completed in 1976 Convention centers in Michigan Buildings and structures with revolving restaurants 1976 establishments in Michigan Skyscraper hotels in Michigan Defunct hotels in the United States Unused buildings in Michigan Charles Luckman buildings

History

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links