Red Liion owners request liquidation

Hotel Partners II, which operates the Red Lion Inn South at 3370 E. Battlefield Road, has asked the United States Bank-ruptcy Court in Kansas City for permission to hire an auctioneer for the property to liquidate its assets.

Forty-two percent of Hotel Partners II, a Kansas general partnership, is owned by Dean R. and Marilyn B. Lessley of Springfield.

The partnership voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 business reorganization Jan. 23 in the Western District of Missouri, according to court records.

On March 6, the partnership's local attorney, David E. Schroe-der, filed a motion requesting the court to approve the em-ployment of Sheldon Good & Company Auctions LLC as auctioneer and for permission to enter into an exclusive real estate auction agreement with the company to sell the property.

Sheldon Good has headquarters in Chicago, and since 1965 has sold $8 billion in property, representing 37,000 sales, in-cluding the Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches in Florida.

Other members of Hotel Partners II, according to the business entity filing with the Missouri Secretary of State, are Frank E. Emery, of Springfield; Control Line Inc., of St Louis; Norris D. Blair, of Wichita, Kan.; Glenna J. Weiland, of Fredericktown; Steven A. Nien-ke, of Peck, Kan., and George Lessley and Shelia Allison of Media, Penn.

The Red Lion South assets consist of a 121-room motel with 54,863 gross square feet, including a business center, fitness room, guest laundry, outdoor heated pool and an asphalt parking lot. The sale also will include all the fixtures and furnishings of the motel.

The 3.17-acre property, which fronts Battlefield Road, is also visible from the Highway 65 Bypass.

According to Schroeder's motion, the partnership has "conferred with its major se-cured creditors and intends to file a plan of liquidation following the implementation of a national auction market plan for the auction sale ..."

Under the terms of the auction agreement, which must be approved by the court, a 5 percent buyer's premium will be charged to the buyer based on the high bid price. The partnership will retain the premium.

The auctioneer company's commission would be 6 percent of the first $4 million, 5 percent of the next $4 million and 4 percent of the remaining gross sale price.

If the property is sold with a cooperating broker, an extra 1 percent will be added to the commission structure, the motion said.

Good requests $35,000 in advance for the hard costs of the marketing plan for advertising, direct mail, public relations, media exposure, sales promotion and auction events.

The partnership has arranged through some of its equity holders for the ad-vance funding of the hard costs, the motion said.

If the motion is approved, the project sales person will be Brian L. Kearney, a licensed Missouri broker.