State pays $2.2 million for hotel litigation fees

COLLINSVILLE -- A published report says Illinois paid nearly $2.2 million in legal fees over the last 13 years trying to recoup taxpayer money loaned to two hotels and a drug store.

That's according to Sunday's Belleville News-Democrat.

In 1982, the state loaned millions of dollars through a state program to the Collinsville Holiday Inn, the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Springfield and a Jewel drug store in Freeport.

The loans were never repaid. So the state took ownership of the hotels and has tried to re-sell them.

Last month, the state held an auction for the Holiday Inn and received six bids. But Collinsville is discussing further financial incentives. Details haven't been released.

In March, the state took over the Springfield hotel in hopes of recovering the nearly $30 million the hotel's owners owe the state.