Inn on Ferry Street deal finalized with sale to Cloudland Capital

The Inn on Ferry Street in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood officially has a new owner with plans to reopen it as a 33-room hotel.

The New York-based real estate private equity firm Cloudland Capital, founded last year, has finalized the purchase of the historic property on East Ferry Street between Woodward and John R, with new management by New York City-based Life House Hotels, for an undisclosed price.

Crain’s reported on the pending sale of the hotel, which was jointly owned by Midtown Detroit Inc. and the Detroit Institute of Arts, in late May. An email was sent to Life House Hotels seeking additional information on Monday.

Bryan Dunn, managing director and head of growth at Life House, said in a press release last week that the company looks forward “to continuing our aggressive expansion into urban core markets with a focus on locally-rooted boutique properties like the Inn on Ferry Street.”

Susan Mosey, executive director of Midtown Detroit, said the two companies “will continue to provide exceptional hospitality at the Inn for the many guests who have stayed with us over the past decades as well as for newcomers visiting the Inn for the first time.”

In addition to The Inn on Ferry Street, Life House Hotels has also been working on an agreement to manage a hospitality component to a new development next to Detroit Shipping Co.

Life House’s website says it owns hotels in Miami, Nantucket, Denver and Miami Beach, and is in the process of opening hotels in Chattanooga, New York and Bali, among others. It also manages 41 independent properties, 11 branded properties and 22 restaurants and bars in the U.S. and Mexico.

Hotel Management reported in 2019 that Life House had snagged $100 million in equity investment from Boston-based Blue Flag Partners as founder and CEO Rami Zeidan and co-founder Yury Yakubchyk planned an expansion through acquisition of seven to 10 hotels.

The company reportedly focuses on properties with fewer than 120 rooms and relies on technology and automation to drive profits.

“We can make a small hotel profitable — or more profitable — in a meaningful way,” Zeidan told Hotel Management. “They have so (many) fixed expenses and GM and director of finance, housekeepers and housekeeping manager—all those positions in a small hotel really add up.”

The Inn on Ferry Street reopened more than 20 years ago as hotel space following an 18-month renovation. It consists of the Pungs house, built in 1891; Roehm house, built in 1888; Scott house, built in 1886; and Owen house, built in 1887; plus the Smith carriage house built in 1892 and, until recently, a carriage house on John R built in 1892, according to the hotel’s website.

It closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and at one point was feared to be shuttered for good.

Mosey said last month the John R carriage house was recently sold to Nancy and Arn Tellem, who are currently renovating the property for an expansion of BasBlue, a new nonprofit gathering place for women and nonbinary individuals.