Gas station chain buys site of former tornado-hit hotel along I-75 for $2.2M

2301 Wagner Ford Road is the site where a Holiday Inn and Ramada Plaza once operated along I-75 in Harrison Twp. The building was hit hard by a tornado in 2019 and then demolished. MARSHALL GORBY / STAFF

2301 Wagner Ford Road is the site where a Holiday Inn and Ramada Plaza once operated along I-75 in Harrison Twp. The building was hit hard by a tornado in 2019 and then demolished. MARSHALL GORBY / STAFF

A Tulsa, Okla.-based gas station and convenience store operator with a thousand stores recently bought land on Wagner Ford Road where a Holiday Inn once stood north of downtown Dayton.

The $2.275 million sale, dated June 13, was of just over six acres at 2301 Wagner Ford Road, where a Holiday Inn and Ramada Plaza once operated over the years.

The Harrison Twp. land is commercially zoned. It is currently vacant, with a weedy concrete slab remaining where the hotel stood. The seller was Dayton Fun Hotels, a California limited liability company, according to new local property records.

The structure that once stood there was heavily damaged in the Memorial Day weekend tornadoes in 2019, becoming a major eyesore off northbound Interstate 75.

It was demolished in 2019 and 2020.

Before its eventual closure, the property had been branded, since 2016, as The Dayton Hotel. The site had more than 230 rooms, a pool and banquet rooms.

The hotel at 2301 Wagner Ford Road was sold and renamed The Hotel Dayton in 2016. WILL GARBE/STAFF

Credit: WILL GARBE/STAFF

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Credit: WILL GARBE/STAFF

Wichita, Kansas-based MK Hospitality Inc., a professional hotel management and acquisition company, bought the property for $1.8 million in 2016.

QuikTrip Corp. says it is a privately held company headquartered in Tulsa. Founded in 1958, QuikTrip says it has grown to a more than $11 billion business with 1,000 stores in 17 states.

The chain just opened its first Ohio store at 2121 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd. and has plans for a site in Tipp City. QuikTrip locations have kitchens that sell pizza, sub sandwiches, wraps and grab-and-go items.

Quiktrip officials did not immediately respond to questions about the company’s plans or timeline for the site.

A building permit for demolition work was filed by the owner of the Dayton Hotel. CHUCK HAMLIN

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