Dallas hotelier Mark Wyant has purchased the Cliff House at Pikes Peak in Manitou Springs and plans extensive remodeling of the property over the next 18 months.
“Well here I go again. … just purchased the Cliff House at Pikes Peak in Colorado where we will be doing yet another top to bottom renovation of an 1873 constructed hotel,” Wyant states in a Feb. 25 post on his Facebook page.
“The beautiful little property, nestled against Pikes Peak in the quaint tourist town of Manitou Springs (and just a mile or so from Garden of the Gods) will have a newly constructed bar, restaurant and all of its 57 rooms renovated and redecorated,” Wyant writes.
Wyant also states that “preservation with elevation is the goal.”
“Our last project was a 1911 Resort hotel that was down on her luck and pretty threadbare,” Wyant writes on The Cliff House’s Facebook page. “We restored her to her Great Gatsby era finest. The Grand Galvez in Galveston, Texas. We will do the same for the Cliff House while respecting her unique rooms and historical character. She will be grander than ever when we finish with her.”
The Wheeler House, an adjacent apartment property, was part of the purchase. It will also be renovated, Wyant states, but the Cliff House will be the first project. The hotel will remain open during renovations.
Wyant and his wife Lorenda own Seawall Hospitality LLC in Dallas, Texas. In 2021, they purchased and renovated the historic Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas, with Wyant overseeing renovations and Lorenda doing interior design. According to PaperCity, a Houston-based regional lifestyle magazine, Wyant’s previous projects include the 112-year-old Audubon Building in New Orleans, which he renovated and later sold. He also renovated a group of buildings in Key West’s Old Town, in Florida, transforming them into The Saint Hotel in 2014. He also completed a Saint Hotel project in Charleston, South Carolina. The Cliff House was purchased through a private hospitality entity, Glenbrook Lodging. The El Paso County Assessor’s office lists the purchase price as $4 million.
The Cliff House, built in 1873, originally was a stagecoach stop during the Gold Rush days. Its previous owner, Galveston, Texas-based Gal-Tex Corp., purchased and renovated the hotel in 2007. Gal-Tex and its operations arm, 1859 Historic Hotels, added the Red Mountain Bar & Grille, a fitness room, meeting room and garden patio on the hotel’s east side.