Rich Kruse

One of my marketing vendors tells me that if I eat a candy bar I should send a press release on the taste. He is joking, but every business joke has a little bit of truth in it.

Every time our office undertakes a substantial event, we utilize press relations to promote the project. Below is the second story coming from a release sent yesterday, March 2, 2009. The third local article should come out on Friday. This type of promotion can not be bought.

Who wants to own the Delaware Hotel?

By Andrew Tobias
Staff Writer, Delaware Gazette

This question could be answered later this month when the well-known Delaware eyesore, located at 351 S. Sandusky St. is slated to be auctioned off at a Delaware County sheriff sale.

The auction will be held at 10 a.m. March 18 in the first-floor lobby area of the Hayes Government Services Building at 140 N. Sandusky St. in Delaware.

Inspectors closed the hotel in September due to numerous health, fire and zoning violations.

Bids for the 5.4 acre property and four-story hotel will start at $860,000, or two-thirds of the sheriff's appraised value of $1,290,000, according to auctioneer Gryphon Realty Advisors, of Lewis Center.

Prospective buyers can tour the property between 1:30 p.m and 3:30 p.m. March 11 and 16.

Richard F. Kruse, the president of Gryphon, said the hotel's location off U.S. 23 made it a "tremendous investment opportunity" and a good value for hotel operators.

"While the property needs some corrective actions before the business can re-open, any experienced operator can accomplish what needs to happen quickly and re-start the business into a profitable venture," he said in a written release.

Gryphon will provide interested parties with information about the property's deficiencies.

"The more the prospective purchaser knows about the property, the more comfortable they are," Kruse said.

Whoever purchases the building would have to make significant improvements in order to be compliant with health and safety codes, Delaware City spokesman Lee Yoakum said.

Before re-opening, Yoakum said, the owner of the property would also need to get the OK from inspectors.

"Whatever ends up there is going to take some work and some investment," he said.

In September, inspectors with Delaware City, the Delaware General Health Department and the state fire marshal's office found an extensive number of violations: the smoke detectors in about 95 percent of the rooms were inoperable or without batteries, some rooms had exposed wiring, faulty air-conditioning units, food scraps left in uncleaned rooms, mold and water leaks.

Inspectors also found the hotel allowed guests to stay much longer than the 15 days allowed by code.

The hotel, which first opened in 1974, previously failed inspection and was closed in November 2007. The violations were remedied and the building re-opened for business. It remained operating until the 2008 code violations.

Pragat Prayosha LLC, the corporation that owns the hotel, has been foreclosed upon after it defaulted on a $1.65 million loan it took out to buy the property in 2007. There is also a tax lien on the property and Pragat owes the county about $38,000 in back taxes, according to the treasurer's office.

Monday, March 2, 2009 11:51 AM By Dana Wilson

The Columbus Dispatch DELAWARE, Ohio -- The Delaware Hotel, which closed last fall, will be auctioned at a sheriff's sale scheduled for March 18 at 10 a.m.

The four-story hotel at 351 S. Sandusky St. was condemned in September after city inspectors found safety- and health-code violations.

Violations included inoperable smoke alarms or alarms without batteries in roughly 95 percent of rooms; vacant rooms containing food scraps; improper electrical connections on air-conditioning units; exposed wiring and uncapped electrical boxes; and bathroom water leaks and mold.

The minimum bid for the hotel and roughly 5.4 acres of land is $860,000. The appraised value is about $1.3 million, according to liquidator and auctioneer Gryphon USA, of Lewis Center.

Prospective buyers can tour the property March 11 and March 16 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

"While the property needs some corrective actions before the business can re-open, any experienced operator can accomplish what needs to happen quickly and re-start the business into a profitable venture," Gryphon President Richard F. Kruse said in a news release.

Hi folks. As many of you know, we are not just in the real estate business. Much of what we do is wind down entire companies. Unfortunately the failing economy has reached up and grabbed another small business in Columbus Ohio. If you are looking for a great price on upscale appliances, come see us over the next 3 weeks.

The following was posted at www.bizjournals.com/columbus by our friends at Business First newspaper without a byline:

Clintonville Electric inventory up for liquidation sale

Business First of Columbus

After closing up shop for good late last month, Clintonville Electric is opening its doors to the public over the next three weekends for an inventory liquidation sale.

The retailer shut down weeks ago after 69 years in business, and about four years after being sold to new owners and moving miles from the neighborhood where it first opened. Clintonville Electric upon closing was housed in a 12,000-square-foot showroom at 2136 Bethel Road, the site of a former Rite Aid drug store. The business got its start at 3367 N. High St. in Clintonville.

Columbus-based auction and liquidation firm Gryphon USA Ltd. is managing the liquidation. Gryphon President Rich Kruse estimates about $450,000 in inventory will be up for sale at prices starting 35 percent below the product's last marked price.

The sale on the upcoming weekends will be held:

• Oct. 17 - noon to 6 p.m., Oct. 18 - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 19 - 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Oct. 24 - noon to 8 p.m., Oct. 25 - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 26 - 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Nov. 1 - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Nov. 2 - 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Columbus Realtors grab your tool belts. It looks like the new job in town for REO professionals is called Rehab. I'm not talking board ups and trashouts here folks. We are talking new roofs and all. I'm talking about Realtor = General Contractor. Lucky for me I have been a GC, done rehabs and built houses from the ground up. So have some of the agents working for our brokerage division.

According to Business First Newspaper this week, "Several small banks have decided to repair and rent out the homes to boost their value." As a full service asset management firm in central Ohio, this brings a whole new level of work to the area.

Actually, this discussion has been going on for some time with our clients. My first reaction was "You are kidding, right?" The answer was no.

I guess I just see a lot of liability here. Most rehabbers will do a lot of the work themselves or hire out to non-licensed people. They do a good job most of the time, but the words permit and insurance are not in the vocabulary. Licensed companies are higher cost. Higher cost is not what my clients want to hear, or so they tell me. I can't see that this approach is going to be a good idea for community banks.

Now let's think about the tenants for a minute. I have been an owner, asset manager, broker and property manager in multiple locations including Columbus Ohio. Tenant and property management is not easy. Low income management is tougher. All of the properties contemplated in the article are, you guess it, in low income areas. Some of the problems include increased repairs, slow pay or no pay on rent and, my favorite, suing the landlord. You know who gets sued? People with money. What do banks have?

The banks see this approach as giving something back to the community and trying to solve the problem, at least on their properties. It is commendable. If you ask me though, it is a very slippery slope and the deck is stacked. A bank can't use unlicensed contractors. A bank can't skip the permit. A bank can't say no to a repair. After all, this is as much about good PR as it is about loss mitigation. If you turn one screw Mr. Bank, be prepared to turn them all.

So the die has been cast. Now that it is in the newspaper, my current client base is going to call to discuss it. Every time I think I am out, they drag me back in!!!!