‍History of Embassy Suites Southfield

During a development boom of office spaces and lodging in Southfield MI in the throughout the 1980s, The Hotel was began its planning stages in 1985 under the operational direction of Ernie Arcos, a highly experienced hotelier acting on behalf of the Chicago based Management Group behind Embassy Suites. During this period, the Management Group was aggressively expanding the Embassy Suites portfolio across major Midwestern and Sunbelt markets, having previously opened successful properties in St. Louis, Chicago, and Orlando. Arcos oversaw the pre opening phases between 1985 and 1987, staying on as the property's inaugural general manager to ensure its stabilization within the competitive Southfield market. Construction began on the grand hotel in 1986 with design elements of the 80s, with its open air atrium, and central common areas. Upon opening it was designed to cater to affluent corporate travelers, visiting executives, and the robust automotive and engineering sectors that heavily defined Oakland County's economy at the time. The atrium provided natural light, alongside bars and restaurants, and six ballrooms for meetings, allowing guests to stay in the comfort of the hotel, for a more productive visit. Its location however did allow easy access to many types of businesses due to its location in the Southfield City Centre district of Southfield MI, adjacent to major corporate headquarters, healthcare facilities, and academic institutions such as Lawrence Tech University. When the hotel opening in 1987 it featured 239 all suite units, over the course of 9 stories, and 205,000 sf. The most notable venue within the hotel was the Jacques Demers Bistro & Bar. Opened in the late 1980s through a strategic licensing agreement, the restaurant capitalized on the immense local popularity of Jacques Demers, the beloved head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. The inclusion of a celebrity branded establishment within the hotel was a calculated maneuver to draw local residents into the property, thereby supplementing the revenue generated by out of town corporate guests. The Jacques Demers Bistro & Bar offered high end business lunches, post work cocktail hours, and heavily promoted holiday buffets, successfully positioning the Embassy Suites as a high-profile hub for both business and leisure within the Detroit metropolitan area. Into the 2000s taste of hotel guests changed as evolving preferences of the modern business traveler began to favor boutique, highly integrated, and technologically advanced lodging options over the sprawling, isolated suburban mega hotels of the past. The cubic volume of the atrium also required immense HVAC costs. With the age of the building reaching nearly 40 years old by 2018, the premium brand and its flagship status, required the hotel to be modernized, with Property Improvement Plans. However it was deemed unwise to invest in the building due to the 10s of millions of dollars it would take to bring it up to modern Hilton hotel standards (the brand that owns Embassy Suites). In 2019 the hotel was stripped of its Hilton branding and flagship status, and was sold to become Ramada by Wyndham Southfield. The Ramada status of the hotel only lasted a year before failing to capture the guests that once defined the hotel, with the hotel officially closing in late 2019. Due to its location it initially stayed in great shape, with many items being last as it was when it closed. For years the property owner tried to reopen the hotel however filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023. The city of Southfield fought hard with the owner in court, to secure the building which by 2023 was beginning to receive calls from both police and fire, as illegal scrapping, vandalism, and general trespassing as the location became a hot spot for urban explorers. During the 2023 the building became less and less likely to see a new life as, the building continued to be unsecured, and the owner had foreclosed on the property. During the case the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy was changed to Chapter 7. In the 2023-2024 budget cycle from the government saw 5 million go to the city of Southfield, in turn was used to fund 1.6 million dollars in deeply delinquent 2019, 2020, and 2021 property taxes owed to Oakland County for the Hotel. The public found this to be a waste of taxpayer money, as the hotel was still in private ownership. In late 2025, the city's Business & Economic Development Department, in partnership with the acclaimed design firm McIntosh Poris Architects, initiated a specialized program offering up to five preliminary feasibility assessments to local property owners. These studies were designed to provide early architectural insight to help clarify the reuse potential of obsolete office and commercial buildings, identify possible state and local tax incentives, and streamline municipal redevelopment planning. In the city’s official Fall 2025 Development Quarterly Newsletter, highlighted the former Embassy Suites as a "Property Spotlight" and a prime candidate for this initiative, provided the a developer was committed to executing a high density residential or mixed use vision. In late March of 2026 work began with a blueprint, of a redevelopment of the former hotel into “New Foster Care” a development that would see the building turned in housing. As of May of 2026 very early work has been done on the property with most graffiti removed and removal of many walls, with many rooms being stripped down to studs.