Foreclosure sale date set for downtown hotel
A foreclosure sale date of May 6 has been set for the Hampton Inn and Suites in downtown Cape Coral.
According to paperwork filed with the Lee County Clerk of Court, the foreclosure hearing for the property was held in the 20th Judicial Circuit Court in Lee County on March 7.
It’s unclear what the future of the property will be, but Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director John Jacobsen believes it will remain a hotel.
“I’m sorry to see it foreclosed, but it is not closing, which is a good thing,” Jacobsen said.
Elmer Tabor, a registered holder of the commercial mortgage on the property, could not be reached for comment.
Cape Hotel Suites, LLC entered into an financial assistance agreement with the CRA in 2005 for construction of the 75-room hotel, taking advantage of Tax Increment Financing, or TIF funds.
Cape Hotel Suites received what Jacobsen described as an “accelerated TIF payoff”, taking less rebate in the short run.
According to the agreement signed on July 25, 2005, Cape Hotel Suites received a total of $651,880 in TIF funds.
The TIF funds covered land acquisition, site preparation and infrastructure improvement, road widening, stormwater improvement, landscaping and relocation of street lights.
Jacobsen said the CRA received a “good deal” through the agreement between the parties.
“They chose to take an early pay out, which saved us money,” Jacobsen said. “It was a good deal for the CRA. We paid out less over time and we got what we wanted, which was a hotel built on vacant that will be on the tax roll forever … there’s no loss to the CRA when it changes hands.”
Jacobsen feels the hotel’s foreclosure is more a condition of the economy than anything else, and doesn’t reflect on the CRA as a whole.
The Hampton Inn and Suites and a Holiday Inn Express are the two chain hotels within the CRA.
“It does not affect the function of the CRA one way or the other,” Jacobsen said.
The sale will take place electronically via the Lee County Clerk of Court’s online foreclosure sale website, lee.realforeclose.com.