ASHLAND — The Ashland Plaza Hotel will be turned into a Marriott location later this year.

Two New York City-based developers are planning to buy the downtown building, located on Winchester Avenue, and transform it into a four-star hotel in the company’s Delta line, Chris Pullem, the director of community economic service for Ashland Economic Development, said.

Pullem said there is still work to be done on the deal by city commissioners, and the county fiscal court will decide on creating a Tax Increment Financing District at a meeting on Tuesday.

He expects work on the renovation of the hotel to begin in mid-July.

“They’re going to renovate it from top to bottom,” Pullem said. “It’s a pretty interesting project.

He said Marriott’s Delta hotels maintain a high minimum standard and the improvements will go toward that purpose.

“The previous owner maintained the hotel well, but it’s not a four-star right now,” he said.

He said the number of rooms in the hotel will increase from 140 to 152 and that a restaurant with a bar will be included as part of the upgrade.

A number of suite-style rooms on the top floor will be converted to regular-sized rooms, Pullem said.

Pullem said the new owners currently have two properties in Greenup, which are doing well.

“They’ve been very active in our market,” he said. “They’ve stayed in the hotel every night since they bought the Greenup property.”

He said the two pitched the idea to Marriott, who agreed that the location would be a good fit for a Delta hotel.

“We’re very excited this is coming to Ashland,” Pullem said.