The investment group is keeping a low profile for its ongoing acquisitions in town, known as the headquarters for Collin Street Bakery, a popular fruitcake supplier, and the internationally known Russell Stover Candies Inc. The investors made the hotel buy under the name of Pleasure Lodging. It outbid six others for the six-acre asset at the intersection of Interstate 45 and US Highway 287, situated right across the highway from a 157-acre, mixed-use project that is part of the group's Corsicana holdings. The investment group, operating under various entities, also owns two office buildings in town.

Seller Allied Capital of Washington, DC put the property on the auction block after holding it for several years following a foreclosure, David Colley, vice president of the investment division for Dallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial, tells GlobeSt.com. The fact is, he says, Allied rejected several offers in the 1 1/2 years that the hotel sat on the market, including one by the investment group. The bottom line is that Allied accepted $450,000 less than its previous lowest offer, he confided. Colley represented the buyer while Tom Handley of Tranzon/Handley in Fort Worth handled the auction.

The hotel renovation has kicked off amid talks with a national restaurant chain for a positioning inside the inn. Talks also are under way to secure a hotel brand to replace the independent flag. Colley says the Minneapolis group, which has Dallas-Fort Worth properties as well, is "trying to create a market" in Corsicana, where more acquisitions are in the talking stages.