Signature Inn Jeffersontown, Kentucky, and Grand Rapids, Michigan

For this update...two more locations I haven't been to

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

The Louisville/Jeffersontown, Kentucky, Signature Inn was originally built as a Best Western in 1994.  Signature Inn purchased the hotel in 1997, and the hotel was co-branded as a Best Western Signature Inn until around 2002.

It's interesting to note that while Signature Inn did some exterior work to their other acquired hotels to give them a little Signature Inn flair, this one had none.  At first, I all but refused to believe that this was a Signature Inn and never would have, had it not been on their website.  A search of some newspaper articles helped fill in the missing pieces.

courtesy of newspapers.com

courtesy of newspapers.com

As of 2006, this 119-room hotel was known as a Jameson Inn.  It was one of the final seven hotels to be sold, which took place in December 2012 or January 2013.  Since then, it has been a Quality Inn.

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

The Grand Rapids, Michigan, location opened in 1987.  This is one of what I call the "Mystery 7;" that is, one of the seven locations I wasn't aware of when I began this Signature Inn adventure.  Throughout this blog, I have been adding locations in roughly the order they were built/purchased; unfortunately this is the best place I could fit this location.

This hotel began its life all the way back in 1968 as a Howard Johnson motor lodge.  Signature Inn purchased the property in 1987 and demolished the gate lodge in favor of its own lobby design.  Along with a new lobby, an extra wing of guest rooms was built to the rear of the hotel.  It's the wing on the left in the aerial photo; from the air, it definitely looks like a Signature Inn wing.  Unfortunately, it doesn't match the rest of the hotel.  When Signature Inn was finished, the hotel had 120 rooms.

This hotel was sold in 1992 and became a Days Inn.  Since then, it had also been known as a LaQuinta Inn before its current branding as a Best Western.

imagery courtesy of Google Maps

imagery courtesy of Google Maps

This one I had a hard time believing was ever a Signature Inn due to the fact that it largely didn't look like one.  The photo above of the lobby helped confirm the fact that it was at one point, though the canopy had been renovated.  A kind reader sent me the following link from highwayhost.org:
http://www.highwayhost.org/Michigan/GrandRapids/East/East1.htm

Definitely an interesting read!  Thank you to whoever sumbitted that link!

sources for this post include highwayhost.org, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, jamesoninns.com archived at archive.org, information found at newspapers.com, and imagery found through Google Maps and Bing Maps.  The dividing lines were also "borrowed" from Signature Inn's old site.

Photographs of other Signature Inn locations can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr