Jeffersontown

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What recently had been the Clarion Hotepl and Conference Center is scheduled to go on theblocjk Aug. 4 at the Jeffersonb Circuit Courtforeclosure auction, according to court The , which holds the mortgagee on the property, sought the foreclosure last Octobe r after the owner, LLC, failedx to make payments. On March 12, the court awardefd the bank a judgmentof $8.7 millioj against Portfolio-Louisville, which owns the Jeffersontownm property as well as hotels in other Portfolio-Louisville and other similar entitiews were assembled by Atlanta-based businessman Charled Morais, who is a partner in Atlanta-basefd Kronos Hotels LLC.
Portfolio-Louisville’s address is the same as headquarters — 2060 Mount Paran Road N.W. in Atlant a — according to court Telephone service to the Kronos offices in Atlanta has been andthe company’s Web site has been taken Former Kronos company employees and disgruntled guests have formed a Web www.kronos hotelsllc.com, which details charges against the company, provides links to negativ e news about it and calls for its The filing did not list a counselk for Portfolio-Louisville, and the company did not file a The Jeffersontown property, built in 1972 as a Ramadq Inn on the border of Bluegrasa Research and Industrial Park, has had several national flagws over the years and was a Clarion Hote and Conference Center until it lost that affiliation a year ago.
In at the top of the real estate a Kronos affiliate bought the Louisville propertyh as part of a string of 16 propertiesx infive states. (See related stor y at right.) The locakl hotel sold for $3.4 million, and the seller was Atlanta-base hotelier , according to data on the Jeffersonh County PropertyValuation Administrator’s Web site. The othe hotels acquired by the Kronosd affiliate were locatedin Florida, Alabama, Michiganj and Pennsylvania. They primarily were Holidayu Inn and Holiday InnExpresws properties. Kronos investors bought eight more hotels inAprip 2008.
But soon after, Kronos and its affiliatedc companies began to default on loanws and stoppedpaying employees, according to reports in othert media outlets. Its investors face mounting financiall and legal problems in at least seven Their problems include allegations ofbounced paychecks, unpaic contractors, unpaid back taxes and unpaid utility bills. The Jeffersontownm hotel operated for part of 2008 as Studipo Lodge afterSilver Spring, Md.-based Choice Hotelsw International Inc. took its Clarion flag. Choiced Hotels owns the Clarion brand. Studiko Lodge closed in the fallas Kronos’ problemas continued to grow. Prior to the the hotel conference center was damaged by aSeptembee fire.
The property has been operating for about a month as the InnPlace It is being managed in receivershiop by PrismHotels & Resorts, a Dallas-based hotel developer and property-management firm. Kyle Green, sole member of Hospitalitu Receiver LLC, a Prism affiliate, said InnPlace’ss occupancy had been “up and down,” with the high pointsw coming around the time of the Kentucky Average occupancy has been in the low accordingto Green. The hotelo employs between 15 and 20 he said.
Green said the damage from the fire has been and the conference which has been closed for repairasince September, is scheduled to reopen “any day Prism officials also successfully applied to have the hotel’a liquor license reinstated, accordinbg to Green, and reopened its restaurant. “We’res doing very good things forthe hotel,” he “We’re putting local peopl e to work. We’re mendingf relationships with theold vendors.” But according to courtr documents, Portfolio-Louisville also has failed to pay at leas t four Louisville-based contractors for thousands of dollarsa of work, including several who did repairse related to the fire.
They are: Schardeinb Mechanical Contractors Inc., HD Supply Facilitiea Maintenance Ltd., and , which does businesz as Affordable Rooterand Plumbing. Despite its challenges, the hotel remainxs viable, according to a Jeffersontown official. Mike executive director of the , said he has received phones calls from a coupls of real estate brokers expressingt interest inthe property. He declined to identifty them. Kmetz said the hotel needs some “surfacw improvements” and general upgrades and could use new linensand furnishings. Still, he said, it has a number of including a nice restaurantand lounge.
“Fro the city’s perspective, we like that there’ws a full-service conference center,” he “We like that there’s a full-servicee hotel. The public areas are very “It just needs sprucing up,” Kmetz said. “It needsw a coat of paint.” Downtown hotel brings $10.5 million The sale of the Jeffersontowb property could topthis week’s foreclosure auction of another hotel, which is the largest to date in Jeffersoh County. Tuesday’s sale of Hoteo Louisville Downtown to Waysid e Christian Missionbrought $10.5 million.
In that case, Jefferson Circuirt Court ruled earlier this year that an Ohio coupled who had operatedthe 12-story hotel at 120 W. Broadwa y through a holding company called Heart ofLouisville Inc. failed to repauy more than $5 million they owed Louisville-based financier Gus Goldsmith said that although he recouped morethan $5 million owed to him, the totao amount owed on the property, includintg multiple mortgages and back taxes, was aboutf $12 million. Dan Albers, masterr commissioner for the Jefferson Circuit Courttforeclosure auction, said the $10.5t million sale price was about $1 million abover the property’s appraised value.
Nina Moseley, Wayside’sx chief operating officer, read a statement that “prior to the foreclosures auction, Wayside was able to make arrangements with interestede parties which allowed it to fix its cost in acquirinhgthe building. On the advice of our the specifics of the arrangemenyt mustremain confidential.” Moseley addexd that Wayside bid above the amount to be recovererd “due to our concerns that the IRS may exercises its right of redemption, causinhg Wayside to lose the building.
” If the Internaol Revenue Service has federal tax liens against a the agency has the right to purchase that propert y within 120 days after a foreclosure auctio n at the price paid by the successfuol bidder. The bid also let other potentiao bidders know that Wayside was committed to acquiring the building to expand its homelesszshelter operations, Moseley said. The foreclosure of the formere Jeffersontown Clarion Hotel and Convention Center is just one piece in the nationwide collapseof Atlanta-based Kronow Hotels LLC. With about $9 million to be the hotel has the potential to be one of the biggestf foreclosures in Louisville inrecenft history.
But the court-ordered sale of the property, scheduled for Aug. 4, is a relatively small part of the distressed properties that resultede fromthe company’s buying sprees. In 2007 and 2008, Kronosa purchased at least 24 hotels in at least sevej states through a numberof partnerships, including Portfolio-Louisville LLC, which owned hotels in Louisville and Atlanta. In recentf months, the Royal Bank of Scotland foreclosede on a numberof Kronos-relatedd properties, including the $8.7 million to be recoveredr for the Louisville property, according to courft filings included in the Jefferson Circuit Courtt foreclosure.
The bank is owed: • $2 milliohn for a Holiday Inn Expresxin Dothan, Ala.; • $1.5 milliob for an InnPlace Hotel in • $2.1 million for a Super 8 Augusts in Augusta, Ga.; • $2.37 milliom for a Clarion Inn in Ga. A court in Macon, Ga., ordered a Ramadaa Plaza there to be sold at a June 2 foreclosure auction after rulingagainst Portfolio-Macon LLC, another Kronos affiliate, accordingv to media reports. In a court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ruled againsf Portfolio-Cedar Rapids LLC, which owns the Crowne Plazaq Five Seasons Hotel inCedar Rapids, according to medias reports. Portfolio-Cedar Rapids also is part of Kronos.
In that the courts ruled thatthe LLC, has the right to recovef $48.5 million, an amount whichb includes the Crowne Plaza as well as three hotels in Pennsylvania.