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MetroPlex auction planned for today
The auction is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. .
LIBERTY — All may appear to be business as usual at the MetroPlex Hotel, formerly the Holiday Inn, just off Belmont Avenue. But changes are taking place at the facility.
The former Holiday Inn facility has been placed in receivership and will be the focus of a receivership auction at 9:30 a.m. today.
The parking lot outside, mere hours before the planned auction, still held cars of guests staying at the hotel, and a receptionist stood ready to serve potential guests. A banquet was being held Monday afternoon.
Manager Clyde DeFraa, however, said the sale will definitely go on.
DeFraa wants the public to understand that the facility will not be auctioned off in pieces, but as a unit in a receivership auction. He said the hotel was placed in receivership in January, but he is not sure who holds any liens on the property or what is currently owed on the property.
Receivership is a type of bankruptcy a company enters when a receiver is appointed by bankruptcy courts or creditors to run the company. The responsibility of the receiver is to recoup as much of the unpaid loans as possible.
Calls left Monday for an asset manager at the hotel were not returned.
Jim Rodway, Liberty Township zoning official, said the hotel lost the Holiday Inn name about 10 months ago but did not change the signs until three months ago.
Pat Ungaro, township administrator, said the future of the long-standing hotel and banquet facility is of interest to township officials and they are keeping an eye on the outcome.
Ungaro said it is believed that about $6 million is owed on the property. He said contractors have told him another $2 million in upgrades are needed on the property, making it difficult to sell.
According to Ungaro, the bidding on the property will likely start at about $2 million. He said getting the hotel sold at a reasonable price will ultimately be a good thing for the township as a whole.
“This is a good thing. If there is $6 million owed to whoever mortgaged it and about $2 million needed to renovate it, that just won’t work. You will not bring in enough to what you have to put out,” he said. “This will be for the betterment in the long run and it’s in the perfect location for future development.”
Ungaro said some major chain hotels have expressed interest in the hotel as well as a few local investors. He fully expects to see some of those interested parties bid on the property.
jgoodwin@vindy.com