Investor buys vacant Castleton-area hotel

A vacant former Country Inn & Suites along Interstate 69 just north of I-465 is getting a new owner with plans to reopen the 85-room property in the Spring. The original owners of the hotel, built in 2001 at 7960 N. Shadeland Ave., lost their national flag last year and briefly operated the property as Castleton Inn & Suites before defaulting on a loan from Wachovia Bank, which is now part of Wells Fargo. NAI Olympia Partners principal Mark Figg, acting as receiver for the property, said he put the hotel under contract with a California investor after a bidding war. He would not name the buyer. The hotel had an asking price of $2.5 million, half the estimated replacement value of $5 million. It sits behind a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, just a few blocks south of a new Drury Inn & Suites at 8180 N. Shadeland Ave.