Conversion of Ridpath complex moves foward

Work on the former Ridpath Hotel complex continues, with permits issued for work on a top-floor condo unit and demolition of most of the adjoining Ridpath Motor Inn.

The 3,100-square-foot condo on the 13th floor is owned by Paul and Janet Mann, active historic preservationists with long-running connections to Ron Wells, who is redeveloping the hotel into living units and also owns condo space on the top floor.

Until recently, the Manns lived in the Jasper-Nuzum House, a Tudor-style home at 503 W. Sumner Ave., which they opened to historic tours on a number of occasions. Paul Mann was once on the board of advisers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The work to transform the former Ridpath restaurant into high-end living with commanding, south-facing views is estimated at $360,000, according to city permit data. The Mann condo will be the biggest of three on the top floor and will take up just less than half of the top floor’s 7,100 square feet.

The condo is designed by the Ron Wells Group, which owns the building.

Just south of the tower, across First Avenue, the old Ridpath Motor Inn will see its second through fifth floors demolished.

Washington Trust Bank purchased the building referred to as the Ridpath Annex in 2014 for $2.6 million from Scott Taylor, one of the investors who bought the annex in 2006 from the previous owner, Red Lion Hotels, and who planned to remodel the building into 56 units and sell them as condominiums.

Those plans fell through with the recession, and the bank said it purchased the structure as a future home to its 485 workers who work downtown.