Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Many improvements have been made to the complex.
HOWLAND -- Avalon Inn and its indoor resort amenities have been sold for $2 million to A.I.R. Management Group LLC, headed by John Kouvas.
A.I.R. Management bought the hotel from Avalon Inn Services Inc., whose president is Thomas C. Keegan.
According to Trumbull County records, the market value of the commercial property is $3.48 million, which includes $274,500 in land and $3,206,400 in improvements, such as buildings.
Acquired in the recent deal, according to the Trumbull County Auditor's and Recorder's offices, were the Avalon Inn at 9519 E. Market St., and its lounge, meeting rooms, pool house, hotel addition and health spa. The sale covered 8.28 acres.
Kouvas was unavailable to comment, Jeff Cataffa, the inn's marketing director, said Tuesday.
"We have a lot of improvements going on," Cataffa said.
Kouvas had been a managing partner of the Avalon Inn & amp; Resort, and he also owns Ristorante Allora, an Italian eatery inside the inn formerly the site of Tall Oaks restaurant.
He's also proprietor of The Chop House restaurant adjacent to the inn, formerly OPUS Twenty One. He closed the upscale OPUS and replaced it with the more casual alternative.
A.I.R. Management and Avalon Inn Services have refurbished the 144-room Avalon Inn & amp; Resort hotel, The Rig Pub and Eatery and some of the inn's other recreational facilities. The property includes an indoor-outdoor tennis and racquetball facility, an indoor swimming pool and a fitness center.
Opened in 1970, the Avalon is adjacent to Avalon Lakes Golf Course, with which it is not affiliated. It is also across the street from Avalon South Golf Course, owned by the city of Warren.
Avalon Inn Services bought the inn for $1.85 million in 1983 from a company called Mid-West Inn Services Inc., which had acquired the resort for $1.85 million in 1977. In 1986, the owners unveiled a new $2.2 million, 54-room addition.
But by 1992, three shareholders had dropped out, and the remaining owners reorganized as HOK Real Estate. In 2001, the HOK owners divided their holdings, and Keegan became the sole owner of Avalon Inn; his partner, Robert O'Malley, became sole owner of Avalon Hotel in Erie.
In 2002, a $750,000 renovation project was completed that included the addition of three new Jacuzzi rooms as well as the renovation of the pool area and fitness center.