UConn's Nathan Hale Inn To Remain A Hotel As Buyer Emerges

STORRS, CT — It's back to a hotel for the Nathan Hale Inn on the Univerversity of Connecticut Campus after a buyer emerged to take it over.

UConn officials on Wednesday announced that the university and Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners (also known as AJ Capital Partners), the owner of the Graduate Hotels brand, have reached an agreement in which the company will buy and "rebrand" Nathan Hale.

The move joins the AJ Capital Partners portfolio of "boutique-style hotels on and around college campuses nationwide.," according to the announcement.

The UConn Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to authorize university officials to sign agreements with AJ Capital Partners, in which it would buy university-owned Nathan Hale and rename it "Graduate Storrs."

The transaction includes a lease for the land on which the hotel stands.

The hotel will undergo a "comprehensive renovation" that will include all guestrooms, common areas, the restaurant and bar and meeting rooms, according to the announcement.

The time table for completion is late 2019.

“We are delighted to welcome Graduate Hotels to Storrs,” UConn President Susan Herbst said. “This accomplishes two key university goals — to have a quality hotel in Storrs that is operated privately at no expense to the University or the state. This will be an extremely welcome addition to the campus that will meet the needs of countless visitors and guests for years to come.”

According to the agreement, AJ Capital Partners will pay $8.3 million for the property — the same price UConn paid when the it purchased Nathan Hale from private owners three years ago.

The agreement also calls for AJ Capital Partners to spend $10 million to $13 million in renovations and improvements, with the purchase price reduced by $300,000 if it cannot get "certain regulatory approvals" to build an additi0n to the much-used ballroom.

Nathan Hale has 98 rooms and opened in 2001. It was privately owned until UConn bought it in 2015. It was designated to eventually become a full-time dorm.

UConn currently uses about half of the rooms for student housing, with the other half continuing to function as a hotel. The 150-odd students currently living there will remain in their rooms through the end of the 2018-19 academic year, after which time the renovations would start and they would be offered rooms elsewhere on campus, UConn officials said.

Photo Credit: Peter Morenus/UConn

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