The Trenton Times published the following article on October 15, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Bankruptcy judge approves auctioneer for former Trenton Marriott hotel
By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on October 15, 2013 at 4:01 PM, updated October 15, 2013 at 4:02 PMTRENTON — A federal bankruptcy judge today approved an auction company that will seek to sell Trenton’s city-owned hotel.
Judge Michael Kaplan said Sheldon Good and Company, a real estate auctioneer, can administer the sale of the Lafayette Yard Hotel and Conference Center, formerly known as the Trenton Marriott, at an auction tentatively set for Nov. 25.
The Lafayette Yard Community Development Corp., the board that oversees the hotel, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. The 11-year-old hotel has struggled to turn a profit and is projected to end the year $880,000 in the red.
The board’s bankruptcy attorney Robert Rattet said the hotel got a good deal from Sheldon Good, which agreed to run the auction for a 1 percent commission.
“The competing bids were five, six percent,” Rattet said. “That is a significant amount of money.”
Rattet said the board was able to strike such a good deal because the LYCDC has been borrowing operating funds from Sheldon Good’s parent company Racebrook during the bankruptcy proceedings.
As part of the deal, Racebrook will be guaranteed recovery of the amount it has lent the LYCDC before any other debts are paid with the proceeds from the sale. The hotel has borrowed $200,000 from Racebrook, said Alan Tantleff, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, a financial management company working with the hotel.