Springfield hotel on the auction block
Posted October 19, 2009 11:00 pm
SPRINGFIELD -- The state of Illinois will auction off a Springfield hotel in December after 27 years and a $30 million unpaid debt.
State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias on Tuesday said the state will sell the Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center at a public auction Dec. 14.
The downtown hotel and one in Collinsville were built in 1982 with state loans. But with interest, the debt grew to $30 million for each site.
The state foreclosed on the properties and sold the Collinsville hotel in July 2008 for $5 million and hopes to get another $5 million from its profits.
The state has made $1.3 million in profit on the Springfield hotel since taking it over and collected a $5.65 million surety bond because of nonpayment of the loan.