Historic Eklund Hotel Facing Foreclosure, Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 23rd 2009 at 8:01AM

Decreasing tourism has pushed another historic hotel into trouble. The Eklund Hotel in Clayton, New Mexico is a slice of the Old West that includes a saloon with bullet holes in its tin ceiling and a ghost named Irene. The hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1892.

It underwent a 2.3 million renovation just five years ago. An AP report highlights the impact the hotel's closing has on the small town of 2,100. The hotel has the main restaurant and bar in town. But the owners, Eklund Association, Incorporated a group of investors that has owned the hotel since 1992 have seen business shrink and are still wrestling with debt from the renovation. The owners wanted to keep the hotel open for the summer season but had to close at the end of April.

The Eklund has 26 rooms with private baths. The renovation was paid for with a $2.16 million loan from the First National Bank in Clayton that was guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development business program but it is not known how much is owed on that loan. The State Historic Preservation Office loaned an additional $200,000 for the project and there is still $147,600, plus 3 percent interest owed on that loan. The hotel isn't officially on the market yet as the bank is still in the foreclosure process. The town is hoping that a buyer who wants to be a part of this small town will come along, save the hotel and join the community.

Gallery: Hotels and Inns for Sale

Tags: eklund, foreclosure, hotel for sale, HotelForSale, new mexico, NewMexico

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Hayden Hamilton Jun 24th 2009 12:00PM

Let it fail, I've owned 5 bars and currently own 7 hotels and I can tell you people in small town are just gossipy small minded people like the small towns they live in. Anybody that would put that kind of money in a town of only 2100 people is nuts just like the bank that lent them the money. Where do they think their customers are coming from. For a hotel to succeed you need at least 140,000 people within a 5 miles radius. Sorry to sound bitter but you would not believe how many banks have these college educated types that have never owned a business.

Gene Dexter Jun 24th 2009 1:31PM

I highly doubt the size of a town has much to do with this. The hotel group clearly needed an online and marketing strategy, strong travel agency relationships and a PR campaign that would would have pushed this property into the forefront of New Mexico tourism. Too often companies spent so much money on a vision yet forget about the marketing.

Gene Dexter PR
Seattle