Sold, But Exceedingly Great News -- Same Manager -- December 22, 2014; Taxable Sales

I don't think the current owner has owned the El Rancho all that long. This is a big story for me for any number of reasons. The El Rancho is located just a few blocks due south of where I grew up. The original owners always had a room available for our family to rent whenever we needed a room. That was a long, long time ago.

And now I read that the current owner has sold the El Rancho. The Williston Herald is reporting:

A limited liability company purchased the El Rancho Hotel for an undisclosed sum December 1, 2014.

El Rancho LLC, managed by investor John Tennant, of Vancouver, WA, now owns the hotel on Million Dollar Way.

Day-to-day operations won’t change, Tennant said.

“It’s a very well established hotel in the community and very well maintained,” he said. “The community will see no changes as far as the management is concerned.”

Tennant is also a major investor in the Home Place Lodge and Suites on West Dakota Parkway, near Cutting Field.

Cindy Aafedt, a major shareholder to the sale, will continue managing the hotel.

“I’m still the manager, our employees are still our employees,” Aafedt said. “The point is that the El Rancho Hotel has new owners.”

For those wondering (I was): 

The Williston Brewing Company leases space from the hotel, but isn’t affected by the new ownership.

“The sellers kept that lease,” Tennant said, adding he expects they’ll renew it. “Both the brewery and the hotel are doing very well with that lease.”

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Taxable Sales and Purchases, 3Q14

At the link, scroll to the bottom for the pdf. 

As long as I'm doing Williston stuff, I might as well add one more. In taxable sales and purchases, Williston leads again. The last time Fargo was ahead of Williston was 2Q11. Williston led the state in 3Q14 taxable sales and purchases:

• Williston: $984,433,645
• Fargo: $757,410,916
• Bismarck: $497,247,696
• Minot: $425,717,626
• Dickinson: $391,276,547
• Grand Forks: $325,888,455
• Tioga: $258,800,232
• West Fargo: $106,123,617

Counties

• Williams (Williston): $1,263,947,915
  Cass (Fargo): $888,712,608
• Burleigh (Bismarck): $500,612,814
• Ward (Minot): $452,334,582
• Stark (Dickinson): $425,661,220

Compare with 2Q14:

• Williston: $911,990,254
• Fargo: $707,24,918

This is the 12th consecutive month that taxable sales in Williston exceeded taxable sales in Fargo; the last time Fargo was ahead of Williston was 2Q11.