By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 25, 2007

In its heyday, the Ramada Inn in New Carrollton was the place to book a room. Elvis Presley stayed there after performing at the now-defunct Capital Centre, as did the Bee Gees and Aerosmith.

But over time, the hotel on Annapolis Road lost its popularity, attracting mostly trade shows and merchants selling everything from secondhand computers to fur coats.

Today, Prince George's County officials hope to recapture that glory when they cut the ribbon on the Four Points by Sheraton New Carrollton, a new hotel where the Ramada sat.

The 10-story hotel is part of the $60 million New Carrollton Town Center development. When completed, the project will include townhouses, shops and a high-rise building overlooking the Capital Beltway.

County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) said the project is important for Prince George's. "It is advancing 'smart growth' in the New Carrollton community by providing transit-oriented development where citizens will have easy access to public transportation, retail and dining," he said.

Arun Luthra, president of American Hospitality Management, purchased the Ramada Inn in 2004 for $12 million. He then gutted the building to make way for construction. "This is a huge deal," Luthra said, adding that the Four Seasons is the first major project to revamp the Route 450 corridor.

It's also a big deal for New Carrollton, a community inside the Beltway, because major developers have chosen other places in the county, such as Oxon Hill for National Harbor and Laurel for Konterra, to build projects.

Although Mayor Andrew C. Hanko applauded the hotel development, he said, "There will be a concern about traffic, but now that we have our own police department, we will focus on the traffic flow in and out of the area."

Four Seasons officials said New Carrollton was attractive because it is near the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies as well as the Beltway and rail stations.

"We saw a great opportunity to develop an area that had many things going for it," said Parvez Ahmed, vice president of American Hospitality Management.

The hotel, which opened several weeks ago, has 197 rooms and will have a 6,000-square-foot ballroom, Ahmed said. He said his company is in negotiations with several potential tenants, including several restaurants.