Hotelier Burned in Financial Crisis Loses Again in Pandemic Bust
- Columbia Sussex borrowed more than $1 billion in CMBS market
- Company poised to lose five hotels, with more in trouble
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A hotel company that ran into trouble during the financial crisis is shaping up to be one of the biggest losers in the pandemic lodging bust, as property owners who delayed debt payments grapple with impatient lenders.
Columbia Sussex Corp., the closely held Crestview Hills, Kentucky-based owner of 49 lodging properties, is in foreclosure on three hotels, and is prepared to surrender two others to lenders, loan documents compiled by Bloomberg show. At least 25 properties that the company has financed with loans packaged into commercial-mortgage backed securities are in special servicing or on servicer watch lists.