The 'Pontch' returns: Crowne Plaza hotel renamed Fort Pontchartrain - Crain's Detroit Business

The 'Pontch' is returning to Detroit.

Sort of.

The Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Convention Center, formerly the Hotel Pontchartrain, has been renamed the Fort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel, a staff member and a member of management at the hotel told Crain's on Friday.

A manager declined to release additional information, saying there would be a formal announcement of the change next week.

Workers on Friday afternoon were seen working on the "Crowne Plaza" signage fronting Jefferson Avenue.

Trademark applications for "Fort Pontchartrain Hotel" and "Hotel Pontchartrain Detroit" were filed earlier this month with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and a New York City-based Joshpe Mooney Paltzik LLP attorney listed on the application did not return a July 13 email from Crain's seeking additional information.

In addition, a website is active and accepting reservations.

An email was sent to New Jersey-based Wyndham Hotels & Resorts seeking comment.

Public records Friday afternoon did not indicate that the property had been sold.

The Crowne Plaza reopened almost exactly eight years ago after a $5 million renovation to its rooms, restaurant and lobby, Crain's reported in July 2013.

The 25-story hotel, which has 367 guest rooms, is owned by a Mexican and European investor group called Operadora de Servicio Para Hoteles de Lujo.

There had been plans over the years to build a 28-story second tower but those plans fizzled nearly three years ago after a labor dispute with City Council.

The ownership group bought the Hotel Pontchartrain, located at 2 Washington Blvd., out of bankruptcy for $8.5 million in 2012.

The hotel was built in the mid-1960s.

Its name was an homage to the Hotel Pontchartrain, which stood from 1907 to 1920 at the corner of Cadillac Square and Woodward Avenue downtown before it was demolished, to be replaced by the First National Building, according to Historic Detroit, which tracks Detroit buildings and architecture.

Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit was established in 1701 by the French, lead by Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac, as a permanent military outpost that was the first European settlement of Detroit.