Dan Murph’s vision from nearly a decade ago of a boutique hotel in downtown Bowling Green led him to create the Kentucky Grand Hotel.

Today Murph has a different vision, one likely to mean that the four-story, eight-suite hotel next door to the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center will soon have a new owner.

Murph said Wednesday he is ready to begin the process of selling the hotel that started as his dream in 2014 and opened in 2016 at 635 College St.

“It’s my baby, and I’ve shed a few tears thinking about it,” Murph said of putting the hotel on the market. “I think there will be a new owner with the ability and focus to take it to the next level.”

For now, that person isn’t Murph, who said other business opportunities are pulling him in another direction.

“The only reason for the sale is that I’ve started a new technology company in Nashville,” said Murph, a songwriter and music producer whose songs have been recorded by the likes of Randy Travis and Reba McEntire. “I’m 52 years old, and I think I have one more chapter in me.

“One of my passions has been to get into technology, and I’m going all-in on it.”

The timing of his new business venture developing mobile apps coincides with what Murph believes is a great time to sell a hotel that has traditionally catered to entertainers performing at SKyPAC and business executives considering an investment in Bowling Green.

Murph said his hotel has an occupancy rate of 84% this year and that the fourth-floor Kentucky Grand Club and the Kentucky Grand Restaurant are doing well.

“Everything is going well,” he said. “If it wasn’t going well, I wouldn’t try to sell it right now. If I’m ever going to sell it, I feel that now is the best time to do it.”

While believing the time is right to sell, Murph and Realtor Justin Watt also think this is an opportune time to find a buyer for a property and business combination that has an asking price of $6.5 million.

“The numbers are good enough on this property that it will work well for an investor,” said Watt, with the Keller Williams First Choice Realty company that is marketing the hotel.

Watt plans to do “as broad of an outreach as possible” in an effort to find a buyer for the property, but both he and Murph think the hotel’s new owner could come from Bowling Green or close by.

“I would not be surprised if the hotel is purchased by a Nashville investor,” Murph said. “But my hope is that it will be purchased by a local investor or group of local investors.”

Although he admitted to being surprised that Murph was putting the hotel on the market, Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority member and former chairman Doug Gorman said it could lead to further investment in downtown.

“Dan is a visionary guy who believes in our community and was way ahead of the game,” Gorman said. “That hotel is a unique part of downtown. I hope someone will come in and expand on it.”

The idea of expanding the hotel and its brand isn’t new, Murph said.

“There are opportunities for it to grow physically and in other ways,” he said. “When the hotel was first designed, there were discussions about putting stilts over the back parking lot and adding three floors.”

Murph said he has also fielded inquiries about expanding the Grand Hotel brand into other markets.

“There are opportunities for someone to grow the brand,” Murph said, “but that person isn’t me right now.”