SBJ Inside Look: Hammons Asset Sale

Over five decades, John Q. Hammons developed some 210 hotel properties across 40 states. Here’s a look at major turning points during and after the hotelier’s commercial development tenure.

1958

John Q. Hammons partners with Roy Winegardner to purchase 10 Holiday Inn franchises.

1961

Hammons and Winegardner found Winegardner & Hammons Inc.

1969

Still partnering with Winegardner, Hammons establishes John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc.

1970

Hammons and Winegardner sell 23 hotels to Holiday Inn for upwards of $60 million, becoming the largest shareholders of the hotel company.

1994

Hammons sells 6 million shares of JQH Hotels & Resorts to the public for more than $100 million, retaining 77 percent ownership; it was traded on the American Stock Exchange.

2005

Hammons returns JQH Hotels & Resorts to private ownership through a complex transaction with Jonathan Eilian, who then indirectly owns 43 of Hammons’ hotels.

2010

Jacquie Dowdy assumes CEO position of JQH Hotels & Resorts, as Hammons steps down to battle multiple cardiovascular, lung and pulmonary disorders.

2012

Eilian contests that debtors of Hammons’ estate breached a right-of-first-refusal agreement developed in the 2005 privatization of JQH Hotels & Resorts.

2013

Hammons dies May 26 at 94 years old.

2015

Eilian files supplemental complaint concerning the 2005 right-of-first-refusal agreement, seeking allowed purchases of Hammons’ assets.

2016

JQH Hotels files Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stalling Eilian’s acquisition efforts.

2018

JQH Hotels agrees to bankruptcy settlement with Eilian, the largest creditor.

Sources: JQHHotels.com, bankruptcy court records, Springfield Business Journal archives