After nearly 47 years, Great Bend’s Best Western Angus Inn has changed ownership. The motel, which was purchased by Dipika Patel on Monday, Aug. 19, was built and operated by Loren and Connie Unruh since 1977 and has remained in their family since their deaths.
The transaction includes the motel, the property that Perkins Restaurant and The Page sit on, as well as the truck parking lot and warehouse east of the motel on Madison St. The restaurant businesses remain the property of the Unruhs’ daughters, Shawnda Misina and Krista Osborn, as well as managing partner Dan Esmond.
The Best Western Angus Inn has 90 rooms, an indoor pool and sauna, exercise and game room as well as meeting facilities for up to 200 people. It is also highly rated on Tripadvisor.com.
Patel currently owns other motels in Iowa and Minnesota and recently sold one in Wisconsin.
How it began
In the 1960s, the Unruhs operated a custom-cutting harvest crew where they traveled from south Texas to North Dakota. When they were on the road they ate in a lot of different restaurants and it was then they decided they wanted to own and operate one in Great Bend. After looking at several franchise opportunities, they chose to go with the steakhouse concept.
In 1970, while still custom cutting, the couple bought the land and built the building that would house the Black Angus, which featured the “Victorian room,” which is now The Page. In 1996 the Black Angus closed and was replaced by Perkins and The Page in a partnership agreement between the Unruhs and Great Bend Hospitality.
The Best Western Angus Inn was built and opened for business in 1977 at its current location at 2920 10th St.
The Unruhs purchased a second Great Bend motel, The Traveler’s Budget Inn, in the early 1980s. The family operated this business until selling it in September of 2023.
Goodbye and hello
Daughters Krista and Shawnda have mixed emotions about selling the properties but knew this was the right time.
“It is a bittersweet feeling to sell the business our mom and dad started,” they wrote in an email to the Great Bend Tribune. “We grew up at the Black Angus and the BW Angus Inn. We got married there. Our children loved to go to grandpa’s hotel. Our grandchildren loved to eat at grandpa’s restaurant and swim in his pool.
“We’ve said our goodbyes to many of our family there. This has been our family for the last 50+ years and selling was our dad’s plan as we no longer live in the area. Our dad was a big supporter of Great Bend and it has been our pleasure serving the GB community for all these years.”
The Patels, Dipika and husband Naren, who will manage the properties, are excited about being in Great Bend and the opportunity this purchase allows them.
“We’re from India so we like hot weather. And we like small towns,” he said. “There will be some organizational changes but the motel will remain the same as it was.”
By KEITH LIPPOLDT
