Lafayette Hotels Group, the Bangor-based hotel chain that bought Portland's Holiday Inn By the Bay in May, has acquired the Holiday Inn-Portland West for an undisclosed sum.

The 200-room Riverside Street hotel, one of Maine's largest, was acquired from Indiana-based Harper Hotels through a new company, Lafayette Riverside Inc., which falls under the hotel group's umbrella. The property transferred to Lafayette ownership yesterday and the company plans to keep it in the Holiday Inn system, according to a company press release. Most of the hotel's 120 employees were hired back after a re-application process, including Richard Kelly, general manager of the hotel since 1991. Gus Tillman, general manager of the 239-room Holiday Inn by the Bay on Spring Street since its opening in 1973, will serve as director of operations for both properties, the release states.

Harper put the two hotels on the market in January. Holiday Inn-Portland West, valued by the city at $10.6 million, was listed for $3.5 million, while Holiday Inn By the Bay was valued by the city at $17.3 million. A sale price for that property was not disclosed.

Established in 1982, Lafayette Hotels owns and operates 23 hotels in Maine, three in New Hampshire and one in Michigan.