It might be checkout time for an extended-stay hotel in Springfield.
Lenders for a multimillion-dollar Value Place hotel in southwest Springfield are taking steps toward a foreclosure proceeding, and a trustee’s sale is scheduled next week.
Springfield Value Partners LLC, a franchisee for Wichita, Kan.-based Value Place LLC, operates the 2021 W. Kingsley St. extended-stay hotel, near James River Freeway and Kansas Expressway.
Emmitt Mitchell, of Overland Park, Kan., and Mike Branker, of Lincoln, Neb., partnered to form Springfield Value Partners and built the hotel in December 2006 with plans to develop a second extended-stay hotel in the area.
Repeated attempts to reach Mitchell were unsuccessful. A listed number for Mike Branker Buick Inc. in Lincoln was disconnected.
“I believe they’re in talks with the bank,” said Joshua Mitchell, Value Place’s property manager and son of co-owner Emmitt Mitchell.
The amount loaned on the property by Wisconsin-based M&I Bank was $4.25 million, according to the trustee’s sale notice in a recent publication of the Daily Events legal newspaper. The fixtures, inventory, equipment, goods and other personal property are to be sold at 2 p.m. March 3 at the south door of the Greene County Courthouse, 940 Boonville Ave.
“I had some indication that was the case,” Joshua Mitchell said. “As of right now, it’s not affecting day-to-day operations.”
Kansas City-based BC Trustee Services Inc., a division of law firm Bryan Cave LLP, is listed in the trustee’s sale notice as the property trustee. Calls to BC Trustee Services attorney Trevor Jenkins were not returned by press time.
An M&I Bank representative said the bank has a policy against publicly discussing property it owns. The bank lists property it owns at
www.mibank.com. The Springfield Value Place is not listed at that site, though a $364,900 Branson home is owned by M&I Bank.
According to the Greene County assessor records, the 2.4-acre Kingsley tract owned by Springfield Value Partners LLC had a 2010 appraised valuation of $3.2 million, while a separate 1.6-acre tract owned by Value Partners Development LLC had a 2010 appraised valuation of $249,800.
Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Tracy Kimberlin wasn’t surprised when he learned of the bank’s activity on Value Place.
“The recession hit the hotel industry very, very hard,” he said, pointing to a December Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Glenstone Enterprises LLC for its Clarion Hotel on South Glenstone Avenue.
The CVB reports Springfield’s hotel occupancy rate in 2010 was 49.7 percent, the second straight year below 50 percent. The average 2010 occupancy rate nationwide was 57.6 percent, according to Smith Travel Research.
“Some numbers are up, some are down,” Kimberlin added. “There are lots of opportunities out there for buying a hotel in any community.”
Value Place’s first venture in the Springfield market came at a time when Value Franchise System President Gina-Lynne Smith considered the area of strong market size and demand.
The Value Place chain of 670 properties in 20 states was founded in 2001 by hotelier and apartment developer Jack DeBoer, who also created extended-stay hotel chains Residence Inn, now owned by Marriott, and Candlewood Suites, owned by Holiday Inn parent company Intercontinental Hotels Group. Calls to the Value Place corporate office were not returned by press time.
The Springfield franchise is listed on
www.valueplace.com as a “location of interest” under the site’s franchising opportunities section.
Although franchise prices are not listed on the site, according to
www.thefranchisemall.com, the total investment required for a Value Place hotel ranges between $3.5 million and $7.3 million with an initial franchise fee of $49,600 and a 5 percent royalty fee on a 20-year term of agreement.[[In-content Ad]]
