50-Year-Old Augusta Ramada To Reopen as Marriott Property in 2027

The Ramada by Wyndham Augusta Downtown Hotel and Conference Center will reopen in February 2027 as The Conroy after major renovations. The property will become part of Marriott's Tribute Portfolio.

Interior demolition began in November. Crews are tearing apart the 200-room facility at 640 Broad St. The 50-year-old building will shrink to 176 rooms measuring between 325 and 900 square feet, with the largest being six hospitality suites.

Matt Brendle serves as managing partner for the Breakwater hotel investment and development firm. Brendle said his vision changed during the past six years, in which he visited Augusta perhaps 200 times.

"That's really our mission, to come in and create something that is not just for out-of-town guests looking for a place to stay but really create this community center of sorts where people who live here, people who spend their time here, will be welcomed," said Brendle, according to The Augusta Chronicle.

The building is one of only three hotels in the world designed by the famous architect I.M. Pei. His other U.S. location is the Four Seasons in New York City.

The Conroy will offer more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space. This includes a 3,000-square-foot ballroom, a junior ballroom, four hospitality suites, a game room, and a courtyard. Plans for renovating the rooftop bar, The Eagle's Nest, are still being considered.

The downtown location was built for $5 million in 1974 during a massive downtown development push. It was named Executive House Augusta in a contest that drew more than 2,800 entries.

The building was affiliated with Hilton until 1986. After the ownership group defaulted on an interest payment of $8.6 million in industrial revenue bonds in 1989, a new ownership group that included Bonnie Ruben and her husband, Jeff Gorelick, bought the Landmark for $1.6 million from First Union National Bank of Georgia. It became the Ramada Plaza in June 1995.

Marriott's Tribute Portfolio is a collection of properties that are soft-branded to allow more independence in shaping each property's community character. Other Georgia locations in this collection include the Alida in Savannah and the Hotel Forty Five in Macon.