TAMPA - A Virginia-based hotel operation company has agreed to purchase the Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk Hotel and invest $6 million in upgrades, adding 4,500 square feet of meeting space and other improvements.

Crescent Hotels and Resorts of Fairfax, Va., said Monday that it expects to complete the purchase of the 293-room hotel along the Hillsborough River at 200 N. Ashley Drive by month's end. The company did not disclose the purchase price.

Lehman Bros. and Driftwood Hospitality own the hotel in a joint venture called DHM Tampa Hotel LLC. The hotel is expected to remain under the Sheraton flag, Crescent officials said Monday.

In addition to expanding the meeting space to 11,300 square feet, Crescent said it intends to complete a renovation of rooms and the lobby that was started several years ago.

'It is always nice to see new owners wanting to go ahead and invest additional dollars and upgrade facilities,' said Steve Hayes, executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The deal is one of a recent series of local hotel transactions, and more are expected as national hotel management companies refine their portfolio of properties.

More than $230 million in hotel transactions was reported locally in the past 24 months and another $100 million is pending, The Plasencia Group, a Tampa-based hotel consultant, said last month.

In addition, about 20 new hotels are under construction or in planning stages in Tampa, The Plasencia Group reported.

The Sheraton hotel property has undergone myriad changes in ownership and branding since it opened in 1968.

It opened as the Manger Motor Inn and became the Tampa Hilton Inn in 1974. It was sold in 1989 and renamed the Riverside Hotel-Tampa. In 1997, it became the Radisson Tampa Riverwalk.

DHM Tampa Hotel paid $17.5 million for the property in 2004 and it became a Sheraton after a short period of being called the Tampa Riverfront Hotel.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 or tjackovics@tampatrib.com