Tam Valley Hotel Takes Long Road Back to Being a Holiday Inn Express

The ever-changing name on the sign of the hotel at the gateway to Tam Valley has come full circle.

The 100-room hotel at 160 Shoreline Hwy., which was a Holiday Inn Express for many years before being bought in 2007 by the Larkspur Hotels group and re-branded as Larkspur Hotel Mill Valley in 2010, switched back to a Holiday Inn Express late Tuesday afternoon.

“As of three hours ago, we are now a Holiday Inn Express again,” said Suzy Charboneau, the hotel’s assistant manager.

The re-branding concludes a four-month, $4 million renovation of the hotel, including new carpets, wallpaper, beds and furniture in all guest rooms, as well some lobby and exterior improvements. Ultima Hospitality, the Chicago-based company that bought the former Larkspur Mill Valley Hotel in September, oversaw the renovation and continues to own and operate the hotel.

“The hotel is already highly regarded in the area, and our improvements and dedicated management team will place it in a class of its own,” Ultima COO Mark Zettl said in a statement at the time of the purchase.

In the months leading up to the re-branding, the hotel’s sign showcased a number of names, most recently Tam Woods Hotel North San Francisco Mill Valley, which Charboneau said was a temporary name during the renovation.

Larkspur Hotels and Restaurants, based in Larkspur, bought the roughly 60,000-square-foot property in 2007, spending $3 million in an attempt to reposition the property as a premium hotel, Karl Hoagland, the company’s chairman, said at the time of the purchase.

That acquisition capped a four-year period in which Larkspur Hotels bought 11 hotels on the West Coast. Larkspur Hotels was founded in 1996 and has its headquarters on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. near the Larkspur Ferry terminal.

The September sale to Ultima was the latest move for Larkspur Hotels in paring down a portfolio that was once more than 23 hotels. In June 2011, Larkspur and Farallon Capital Management put 11 hotels up for sale, including the 102-room Lodge at Tiburon, which it sold in December 2011.

Charboneau said the Holiday Inn Express in Tam Valley retains its amenities, including a pool, bicycles and neighboring Frantoio Ristorante.

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