Best Western Gateway Hotel

The covered Best Western signage.

The Best Western Gateway Hotel is a now-demolished facility in Barboursville, West Virginia. It consisted of over 250 rooms, a restaurant and a conference center along U.S. Route 60.

The 18-room hotel was constructed in 1954 (2) and expanded in 1964 with an additional 250-rooms (4). A conference center was added in the mid-1980s (5). It operated as a Holiday Inn until April 1, 1997 (1). Despite $200,000 in renovations during the year, the franchise was pulled and the hotel became affiliated with Best Western on October 1 of that year.

On June 28, 2001, the largest hotel in Cabell County, West Virginia closed (1). The 208-room Best Western Gateway Inn was forced to close its doors after mangling in bankruptcy court since the summer of October 27, 1997.

The Gateway Motel and Restaurant, who owned the Gateway hotel, and the Booten Realty Company, who owned the conference center, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors. The Booten family owned both the Gateway Motel and Restaurant and the Realty Company (5). The case was filed soon after receiving a note on the properties on October 1; unable to pay, they filed for bankruptcy to prevent foreclosure. In 1999, the Booten family, which operated the Booten Reality Company, lost control of the hotel and conference center after two decades (5). A federal bankruptcy trustee on October 13 appointed John Todia of the Waterford Hotel Group as the trustee of the hotel and conference center after two years of the property being held up in bankruptcy court.

Mark Davis, a Barboursville chiropractor, purchased the hotel and planned to “remodel and upgrade it” into another function, stating that a hotel would “simply not work.” (1) It was located four-miles between interchanges on Interstate 64 and other newer hotels were located closer to the interstate. Davis stated that plans could include commercial development fronting U.S. Route 60 with residential development in the rear, or a retirement community with condos and apartments. The conference center, which was on the western fringe of the hotel property, had been purchased a year prior by Fred Davis of Davis Chrysler-Jeep. The property was being used as a used car lot.

On August 24 and 25, a public auction was held with more than 2,000 items up for bids (2). Items from cups to cash registers to carpets and ceiling tiles were sold. The largest item up for bid was the original 18-room hotel building that was constructed in 1954. The 225-room expansion was sold separately.

Renovations

Renovations on the former Best Western Gateway Hotel property began in late-2001 (3). The $15 million project began in late-August 2001. According to the initial plan, the front of the hotel would be redeveloped into a 15-store shopping center. Two buildings on the western and southern boundaries would be converted from hotel rooms into 66 one- and two-bedroom condos. An additional 12 to 14 units would be constructed above the indoor pool in the hotel’s colonial building. The shopping center and half of the retirement community was completed in August 2002 as part of Phase One. Phase two included the construction of the remainder of the retirement community and was completed in 2004.

As part of the project, a walking track, fishing dock, picnic area and shuffleboard platforms were constructed along the Guyandotte River (3). A courtyard surrounded by the condos include two tennis courts, putting greens, a picnic area and a garden.

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