KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – A Knoxville developer has signed an agreement to purchase the Holiday Inn Select Downtown.

Developer Nick Cazana told Volunteer TV News on Thursday that his group had purchased the 286-room hotel from Franklin Haney.

Haney, a McMinn County native, started FLH Company in Chattanooga before moving it to Washington D.C. in 1994. He built the Holiday Inn for the 1982 World’s Fair and was considered one of the key developers behind World’s Fair Park.

Cazana is the president of Commercial & Investment Properties Co., a West Knoxville firm that has constructed more than 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space across the south. Cazana also has plans to develop Metropolitan Plaza, a nearly $80 million hotel, office and condominium complex that would be located across Henley Street from the Knoxville Convention Center.

The developer didn’t disclose home much he was paying for Holiday Inn Select. Records obtained from the Knox County Trustee’s office indicate its property value was appraised at $7,666,700.00 for the 2009 tax year.

Cazana did say he plans to spend $5 million upgrading the Holiday Inn’s rooms, meeting areas and lobby over the next few years. Those renovations could begin as early as late December.