Crowne Plaza Hotel In Foreclosure

By Justin Foss, Reporter

Tools

By Justin Foss

Story Created: Oct 15, 2008 at 9:29 PM CST

Story Updated: Oct 15, 2008 at 9:54 PM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS - There are new developments in the Crowne Plaza situation that the Cedar Rapids city manager says could drastically change everything with the hotel.

Wednesday night city manger Jim Prosser said the hotel's owners are in default of a major bank loan and the lenders are foreclosing on the company.

The hotel has been in the middle of financial problems since this spring.

Prosser said the owners, Kronos Hotels, based in Atlanta, GA, could lose the building because of the bank troubles.

Prosser said the city is looking forward to the court appointing a temporary manager to the account, so the city can renegotiate how the hotel will do business and put in some provisions to make sure employees get paid, among other things.

It's unclear how quickly the court could move, but Prosser hoped it would be within weeks.

The Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown District are publicly putting pressure on the city to clean up the hotel, and if that means replacing the owners, so be it.

"Frankly I think they've reached the end of their rope. I can't see them continue to stave off any legal action," said Scott Byers, Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

The city owns the property the building sits on, and leases that property and the air rights to Kronos Hotels. That lease gives the city power to essentially kick out the owners, if they fail to meet certain guidelines, according to Prosser. However, Prosser said its the city's choice to decide when the hotel isn't meeting those guidelines.

Kronos representative Peter Mathon told KCRG TV9 the company is committed to running the hotel for the long term.

Email Justin Foss at Justin.Foss@kcrg.com

Next Article For Cedar Rapids, Proposed State Aid Hinges on Local Tax Approval

Conversation Guidelines

Be Kind

Don't use abusive, offensive, threatening, racist, vulgar or sexually-oriented language.
Don't attack someone personally. Keep it civil and be responsible.

Share Knowledge

Be truthful. Share what you know and what you are passionate about.
What more do you want to learn? Keep it simple.

Stay focused

Promote lively and healthy debate. Stay on topic. Ask questions and give feedback on the story's topic.

Report Trouble

Help us maintain a quality comment section by reporting comments that are offensive. If you see a comment that is offensive, or you feel violates our guidelines, simply click on the "x" to the far right of the comment to report it.

read the full guidelines here »

Commenting will be disabled on stories dealing with the following subject matter: Violent crime, sexual abuse, Amber Alerts, Operation Quickfinds and suicides.