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By Sam Wheeler For the Tidings December 15. 2014 7:38PM Renovations progressing on Oregon's 'front gate' Millions spent on makeover for lodging, conference complex expected to employ about a hundred people, attract thousands of visitors A sculpture of a Native American greets visitors to the lobby of the Ashland Hills Hotel & Suites. Daily Tidings / Bob Pennell Neuman Hotel Group is bringing back the same elegantly lit and commodious swag that made Ashland Hills Hotel and Suites’ a traveler destination during the late 1970s and early '80s — with a few updates of course. “The whole point is to introduce the I-5 traveler to Oregon. We want to make it the ultimate front gate,” said Becky Neuman, walking through a newly renovated wing of 30 guest rooms flanking the hotel’s lobby. Since April 2013, Neuman Hotel Group owners Doug and Becky Neuman, together with their partners Mike and Laura Naumes — and the support of the Neumans’ company — have been renovating this largest hotel and conference-banquet event space in Southern Oregon. The nearest larger space is at Seven Feathers Casino Resort, 82 miles north in Canyonville. When Becky Neuman’s husband and Don Anway, Neuman Hotel Group’s general manager, began discussing a possible purchase of the Ashland Hills property in 2013, she wasn’t fully on board. Considering donwtown’s Ashland Springs Hotel, Lithia Springs Resort, Medford’s the Inn at the Commons, “my first thought was ‘really, this is so not boutique, what are you guys talking about?’” Becky Neuman said. “We lean heavily on Don and our team for any decisions we make. We just want to make sure that we’re buying it right, and making sure operationally it’s going to work ... and it was just so buy-it right,” she said. Having acquired the original two- and three-story buildings, which housed 160 rooms, a lounge, restaurant and banquet space fit for 700 people and a building housing 70 suite rooms all on 14 acres for $1.6 million, the Neuman’s were certain they could have success reenergizing Ashland Hills. Windmill Inns of America paid $5.4 million for the Ashland property in 1995. In 2007, all of the original two- and three-story buildings were closed. It opened in 1978 as Ashland Hills and in its heyday was valued at $10.6 million. When they bought the property in April 2013, the Neumans said they planned to invest up to $6 million renovating the rooms, restaurant, lounge, meeting spaces, tennis courts and gardens, and hire 100 people to work in management, food and banquet service, housekeeping and groundskeeping. “We knew that they already had a good base. We’ve said from the time we walked in the bones of this property is what really caught our eye and our attention. There is just so much you can add to this property and that’s what we’ve done,” Anway said. And it’s been done with a tasteful nod to the 1970s. The hotel’s original glistening chandeliers, pillar mirrors, bright-bulbed, polished-gold bathroom vanities and framed French art fit well along and tucked away from the hotel’s long, soft hallways. The art was hand selected by Los Angeles-based designer and artist Jack Boujaklain, Becky Neuman said. Further renovation plans include the completion of 50 additional guest rooms by spring 2015; the lobby level Grand Ballroom, kitchen and breakfast mezzanine by summer 2015; and remaining guest rooms and suites, the restaurant and bar and a retail space that will sell all things Oregon beginning in spring 2016. When the full renovation is complete, the hotel will boast about 230 guest rooms and suites and over 10,000 square feet of conference and banquet space. Currently, the hotel has 100 rooms open — 70 are suites, the other 30 are newly renovated guest rooms. The swimming pool, 4,000 square feet of banquet space, exercise room and tennis courts are also open. “It’s Quintessential Oregon ... not many hotels can say they have quintessential Oregon. We are so lucky to have this hotel,” said Becky Neuman, peaking through a guest room window at Grizzly Peak above and beyond the hotel gardens. “And to have a hotel on an exit is always a beautiful thing.” Reach freelance reporter Sam Wheeler at [email protected]. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20141215/NEWS/141219872 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->