Spencer hotel sells at auction
By Russ Oechslin Journal correspondent | Posted: Thursday, August 23, 2007
SPENCER, Iowa -- It took less than 10 minutes Wednesday afternoon for The Hotel to be sold at a sheriff's sale -- drawing just a few dollars less than the amount necessary to clear the debt and accrued expenses that totaled $403,460.
The lone bidder, Des Moines attorney G. Mark Rice, was outnumbered by bankers, real estate people and more than a dozen other spectators.
The sale, to a buyer identified by Rice only as KES Properties LLC, included a pre-submitted bid of $382,000 for the real estate and another $20,902 for the personal property. Rice made the personal property bid during the sale. No other bidders came forth for either the real estate or personal property.
KES Properties was registered as an Iowa corporation Feb. 21, just a week before the The Hotel was to have been sold at a sheriff's sale that was stayed by a bankruptcy filing until this week. The only name attached to the filing in the Secretary of State's office is Spencer attorney Michael Bovee, who declined to return phone calls Wednesday.
However, Sheriff Randy Krukow indicated that Toby Shine and his attorney-daughter Eva were to meet with him to work on details of the sale after the close of the bidding. The elder Shine said just before the first sheriff's sale was canceled that he was not interested in owning and operating the property -- that when his wife and partner sold it seven years ago it was a business, but that business no longer existed.
Late Wednesday, Shine said he "didn't buy anything," and said he didn't know what anyone else in his family might have done, including daughters Keven and Eva Shine.
Eva Shine said, "My only comment is no comment. And I hope you respect that."
Recent owner Steve Bear closed the facility in May 2006. Court records show an overall decline in business the months before the closing.
Shine's wife Sylvia and business partner Caroline Toebes owned and operated The Hotel from 1986 until 2000, when it was sold to Bear, who, Northwest Federal Savings Bank claims, defaulted on his agreement with the institution.
There are several suits and counter-suits still pending.
Northwest Federal filed for foreclosure in late 2005, naming the Hotel Spencer corporation, and former owners Sylvia Shine and Caroline Toebes, along with Toby Shine and Shine Bros. Corp, which guaranteed notes on the property.
Another buyer in the wings?
One Spencer real estate agent, Wayne Workman, said at the sale he had an out-of-state buyer interested in the property. But that buyer, he explained, did not want to deal with an auction situation because of the cash requirement and because of the uncertainty of pending litigation that might cloud the sale.
The unidentified buyer, Workman indicated, has plans to affiliate the property with a nationally known hotel franchise. Workman said he feels that "hanging a major flag out front (a franchise sign) would be good for everyone concerned," and he noted that the potential buyer, a hotel developer, surveyed the property in late 2005 and subsequently made a written offer to Steve Bear, but that the offer was declined at the time.
Formerly known as the Tangney Hotel, The Hotel was built in the 1920s and had a fifth floor added in 1936.
The lone bidder, Des Moines attorney G. Mark Rice, was outnumbered by bankers, real estate people and more than a dozen other spectators.
The sale, to a buyer identified by Rice only as KES Properties LLC, included a pre-submitted bid of $382,000 for the real estate and another $20,902 for the personal property. Rice made the personal property bid during the sale. No other bidders came forth for either the real estate or personal property.
KES Properties was registered as an Iowa corporation Feb. 21, just a week before the The Hotel was to have been sold at a sheriff's sale that was stayed by a bankruptcy filing until this week. The only name attached to the filing in the Secretary of State's office is Spencer attorney Michael Bovee, who declined to return phone calls Wednesday.
However, Sheriff Randy Krukow indicated that Toby Shine and his attorney-daughter Eva were to meet with him to work on details of the sale after the close of the bidding. The elder Shine said just before the first sheriff's sale was canceled that he was not interested in owning and operating the property -- that when his wife and partner sold it seven years ago it was a business, but that business no longer existed.
Late Wednesday, Shine said he "didn't buy anything," and said he didn't know what anyone else in his family might have done, including daughters Keven and Eva Shine.
Eva Shine said, "My only comment is no comment. And I hope you respect that."
Recent owner Steve Bear closed the facility in May 2006. Court records show an overall decline in business the months before the closing.
Shine's wife Sylvia and business partner Caroline Toebes owned and operated The Hotel from 1986 until 2000, when it was sold to Bear, who, Northwest Federal Savings Bank claims, defaulted on his agreement with the institution.
There are several suits and counter-suits still pending.
Northwest Federal filed for foreclosure in late 2005, naming the Hotel Spencer corporation, and former owners Sylvia Shine and Caroline Toebes, along with Toby Shine and Shine Bros. Corp, which guaranteed notes on the property.
Another buyer in the wings?
One Spencer real estate agent, Wayne Workman, said at the sale he had an out-of-state buyer interested in the property. But that buyer, he explained, did not want to deal with an auction situation because of the cash requirement and because of the uncertainty of pending litigation that might cloud the sale.
The unidentified buyer, Workman indicated, has plans to affiliate the property with a nationally known hotel franchise. Workman said he feels that "hanging a major flag out front (a franchise sign) would be good for everyone concerned," and he noted that the potential buyer, a hotel developer, surveyed the property in late 2005 and subsequently made a written offer to Steve Bear, but that the offer was declined at the time.
Formerly known as the Tangney Hotel, The Hotel was built in the 1920s and had a fifth floor added in 1936.
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