"James," the text message said, "did you hear about the two hotels closing downtown? What do you know?" I didn't know anything, but a few calls later, here's what I do know (not a lot of info available).

The Holiday Inn Downtown and the Days Inn Downtown are closing up. Both aren't taking on any new guests. We knew this was coming for both, but now we know there are plans.

The Holiday Inn, which began life as a Sheraton in 1971, sent most of their employees home and will soon see demolition by October, at the latest The basic property is NOT being demolished, just certain parts of the inside (likely the 2nd to 6th floor) and some parts of outside.

It's an alteration more than a teardown to create an expensive Indigo Hotel that'll start in October and should be done by spring next year. Holiday Inn is part of the International Hotel Group, which also includes Staybridge Suites, Crown Plaza, Hotel Intercontinental and Indigo..

Then, the built-in-1920 Days Inn will close up September 14th. We can say goodbye to the 85 rooms there, but we don't know the actual date it'll be demolished or what'll go in the empty lot.

Altogether, this knocks 258 rooms out of the Rochester hotel scene. At least temporarily.

Listen to James Rabe 6a to 10a on Y-105 FM, and 2p to 6p on 103.9 The Doc.

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