Restoration and today
In 1977, Sheraton sold the hotel, which now had only 800 rooms, to Save-the-Square, Inc. for $18 million.[15] The group of investors, headed by Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell and also including Cleveland Indians owner Steve O'Neill,[16] rescued the hotel from receivership and paid its debts.[17] The group hired Biltmore Construction to fully renovate the aging hotel, enclosing the rear courtyard as a glass-roofed atrium, with a pool that had to be lowered into place by a huge crane.[18][19] It reopened in 1978, managed by Stouffer Hotels, as Stouffer's Inn on the Square.[4] Ronald Reagan visited the hotel on October 29, 1980, prior to participating in a presidential debate against Jimmy Carter at Public Auditorium.[20] Boxer Larry Holmes fought a series of exhibition bouts in the hotel's Grand Ballroom on April 9, 1982.[21] Cast and crew of the classic 1983 film A Christmas Story stayed at the hotel while filming in the adjacent Higbee's department store.[22]
In 1985, Stouffer began a $37 million, five-year renovation, throughout which the hotel remained open.[15][23] The renovation reduced the number of rooms to 500 and modernized the fire safety systems with sprinklers, smoke detectors and alarms.[24] In December 1986, the hotel was renamed Stouffer Tower City Plaza Hotel, to match the renovated train station and its shopping mall.[4][15] Renaissance Hotels purchased Stouffer Hotels in 1993, and the hotel became the Stouffer Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. In 1996, the Stouffer branding was retired and the hotel became the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel.[4] In 2015, Toronto-based Skyline Investments purchased the property for $20 million.[25]
In September 2021, Skyline announced plans to renovate the hotel and move it from Marriott's Renaissance Hotel division to the company's Autograph Collection, with the hotel regaining its historic name, Hotel Cleveland.[26] In December 2021, Toronto-based VM Hotel Acquisition Corp announced plans to purchase the Renaissance Cleveland and the Hyatt Regency Cleveland from Skyline, but in May 2022 they pulled out of the deal, citing "market volatility."[27] The hotel was renamed Hotel Cleveland, Autograph Collection in Spring 2024, as the $90 million renovations neared completion. It celebrated its grand reopening in June 2024.[28]
