Hotel in township going up for auction
After a foreclosure, the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Butler Township will be up for auction.
The auction, currently scheduled for May 17 to 19 with a starting bid of $1 million, comes as a result of decreased revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moody National Companies, the Texas-based previous owner of the hotel, defaulted on its mortgage in spring 2020, according to a foreclosure complaint filed in the Butler County Common Pleas Court in June.
Prior to the foreclosure, Moody's mortgage was transferred to special servicing for imminent monetary default “at borrower's request as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Currently, the property is owned by Rialto Capital Advisors, a Florida company that serves as special servicer for the mortgage trust in which Moody's loan was held. SEC fillings indicate the property is currently in receivership, with GF Hotels & Resorts, a Philadelphia hospitality management company, operating the hotel.
Jack Cohen, president of Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, said while the Fairfield is a visible commercial COVID-19 casualty, it is far from the only one. He added that none of the county's hotels have surpassed 50% occupancy since last spring, and while the number of guests is increasing, it's a slow climb.
“The biggest hotels have the hardest time,” he said. “Think about the utilities alone in a big hotel property — that doesn't change much when people are there or aren't there. You still have to have the heat going, the lights, the air conditioning going.”
It's a national issue, he said, not one isolated to Butler County. And it's certainly not isolated to the Fairfield.
“I don't know what (hotels') bank accounts look like, but I do know that there's nothing they can do other than get more people in their properties to make a difference,” Cohen said. “Without being able to generate revenue, eventually they're going to dry up. There's no way around it.”
