Evansville Hospitality Founder Bianca Farrow Adds Fourth Riverfront Hotel

Bianca Farrow, founder of Ohio Valley Hospitality Partners, acquired her fourth Evansville hotel this month, continuing a decade-long strategy of buying and renovating aging independent downtown properties rather than building new construction along the Ohio River waterfront.

Farrow started the company by purchasing a single run-down motel near downtown Evansville eleven years ago, renovating it gradually while keeping it operating during slower travel seasons, a model she has since repeated with each subsequent acquisition. The newly acquired property, a 58-room hotel that had operated under the same family ownership for three decades, will undergo a similar phased renovation.

"There aren't a lot of empty lots left downtown, so growth here mostly means finding a property whose owners are ready to sell and are willing to let it stay open while you fix it up," Farrow said. "Every one of these hotels came with its own set of deferred maintenance problems, but that's also why we could afford to buy them."

Farrow said the acquisition was financed through a combination of a regional bank loan and proceeds from the company's existing properties, which she said have posted steadily improving occupancy rates as renovations were completed. Ohio Valley Hospitality Partners now employs approximately 180 seasonal and year-round staff across its four properties.

Evansville's downtown lodging market has consolidated significantly over the past fifteen years as aging independent motel owners have retired and sold to larger operators, a trend local tourism officials say has generally improved the city's overall room quality even as it has reduced the number of independently owned properties downtown.