Jaspers Enterprises' Ch. 11 staves off foreclosure

It’s tough going lately for Keith and Karen Jaspers. The couple’s Branson-based hotel company, Jaspers Enterprises Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 13 – a day ahead of a scheduled foreclosure sale of two of its Branson properties. Then on Feb. 29, the company’s Howard Johnson Hotel on Highway 76 received damage in excess of $100,000 from the EF-2 tornado that swiped through town.

“We were to open the Howard Johnson Hotel tomorrow, but because of tornado damage, that will be put off for about two weeks,” Keith Jaspers said on March 7, describing the damage as largely cosmetic.

Jaspers cited a lack of booked business through the economic downturn for his firm’s voluntary bankruptcy reorganization filing.

“Business had been slowing down and slowing down, while bank payments remained steady and high, and frankly, too high for the properties to sustain,” Jaspers said.

The bankruptcy filing staved off foreclosure sales of the Days Inn and Howard Johnson in Branson by lender Hawthorn Bank. Jaspers said in late December bank officials called the five-year loan on the two properties.

“We knew that the foreclosure sale was looming, so we filed it on Monday before the foreclosure sale so that it would be stopped by the bank,” said Robert Eggmann, the St. Louis attorney representing Jaspers Enterprises.

The bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri lists fewer than 50 creditors, including claims of $391,760 to Days Inn Worldwide, $252,706 to Wingate Inns International Inc. and $155,039 to Howard Johnson International. Jaspers Enterprises’ liabilities are estimated at $1 million to $10 million, and its assets are estimated at $10 million to $50 million.

Eggmann of Clayton-based Desai Eggmann Mason LLC said The Bank of Missouri is a secured creditor with a claim of roughly $4.5 million, representing the loan amount for the Wingate hotel in St. Louis.

Eggmann said Jaspers has 120 days from the filing of the case to be the exclusive party to file a plan for reorganization. After that date, he said other parties could file a plan on behalf of the debtor. He said no plan had been filed as of March 7. Jaspers, who also founded and runs Springfield-based nonprofit Rainbow Network to serve communities in Nicaragua, said it could be this summer before a plan to repay his debts is submitted and approved.

Editor Eric Olson contributed to this report.