GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — On Tuesday, Green Bay’s City Council voted 11-1 to approve a proposed deal on the Hotel Northland. District 3 Alderperson, Bill Morgan, was the only one opposed.
City leaders say it’s the best of a bad situation.
“None of us would choose to be in this position. But the alternative was to receive nothing if this property were to go through the foreclosure process,” said Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich.
The hotel is being sold to avoid foreclosure. However, the city of Green Bay was still owed $2.6 million as part of a loan with the current ownership of the hotel. The $2.6 million comes from a $4.4 million U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development loan.
“It doesn’t get us all the way, obviously, to $2.6 million, but it allows us the opportunity to make some payments here on the front end for several years, and then potentially figure out another strategy to pay the balance of that loan,” said Genrich.
304 N Adams Street Green Bay LLC, the current owners, are now released from the rest of the money they owed. Also, a 2014 development agreement, and four amendments through 2018, have been terminated.
The city does have $550,000 in a reserve account related to the loan with the hotel owners. So, the city’s overall losses amount to just over $1 million.
The deal was made before Mayor Genrich or any of the current council members were in office.
“I’m glad that we don’t make deals like this going forward. I don’t like how it was funded personally, but we are looking at either zero or the million,” said Alyssa Proffitt, District 7 Alderperson & Common Council President.
The current owners are working to close a buyer that would keep the hotel open. One of the buyers addressed the council during Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’re really excited about the property. We think it has a chance to be kind of put back into its old glory, its old iconic self,” said Blake Malecha, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Tertium Development.
Tertium Development has a focus on properties in Midwest cities. Malecha added the company recently purchased another hotel.
“It certainly seems like a very community-minded group of owners. So, we feel good about the ownership group, the new buyer coming in,” said Genrich.
The buyer says they plan to maintain the name of Hotel Northland, and it will stay as part of the Marriott Autograph family.
The council discussed the agenda item in closed session for about 30 minutes.
