Reports are in that the Executive Inn has been sold to a Chicago company, Mutual Hospitality Management. There is very little information available on Mutual Hospitality Management. Major Jonathan Weinzapfel is waiting until more information is available. As per the Major “Like everyone else, we look forward to hearing more details of the sale in the coming days.”

Executive Inn sold to Chicago company

The Executive Inn has been sold to a Chicago company, Mutual Hospitality Management.

The company plans to keep the hotel open and make improvements to it, according to a statement released Friday.

“As these decisions and developments progress, all of the facility’s first class hotel and conference center services will continue with normal operations,” the release says.

A representative of the new owners, Gary Jossa, could give little information about Mutual Hospitality Management. He did not know how many investors were involved, what other projects it had undertaken or whether it was affiliated with any other companies.

Mutual Hospitality Management has no plans to lay off any of 100 or so workers at the hotel, Jossa said.

“In the next 10 days or so there will be a lot more information ready to go to the community,” said Jossa, the president of the Evansville firm MediaMix Communications.

Mutual Hospitality Management was in part attracted to the Executive Inn because of the city’s plans to build a new arena on an adjacent block, Jossa said. He knew of no connection between the new owners and Browning Investments, an Indianapolis company which last year announced plans to build a four-star hotel near the Downtown arena.

Upon hearing the news, Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel said, “Like everyone else, we look forward to hearing more details of the sale in the coming days.”

Marilee Fowler, the executive director of the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau, said she is glad the Executive Inn will remain open. Losing it now would prove extremely inconvenient. Several large groups — participants in the Indiana Youth Bowling Tournament for instance — have planned to stay there in coming months. The hotel contains 470 rooms, making it the third largest in the state of Indiana.

“I don’t know anything about this company,” she said. “I’ll look forward to learning more. We will be optimistic.”

She noted that the previous owner, Noor Tejany, had likewise made big promises. He had wanted to have the Executive Inn affiliated with a national hotel chain.

“I think it will be a huge investment,” Tejany said in Jan. 2007, shortly after buying the hotel. “Of course, it will be millions of dollars because this is a huge piece of property.”

Tejany is the president of Tejany Hospitality, which is based in Oak Brook, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

Whatever investments he made, the previous owners became better known for falling behind on taxes. Not counting overdue payments on innkeepers taxes, the Executive Inn owes at least $123,800 to the county, state and federal governments. The delinquencies contributed to hotel’s inability to have its liquor license renewed earlier this month.

County Assessor Jonathan Weaver said his office hasn’t received a sales disclosure showing that the Executive Inn has a new owner. Nor does the recorder’s office have a deed for such a transaction.

But that not necessarily a sign a deal doesn’t exist. Real-estate transactions often take time to appear in official records. One important prelude to a sale is usually the payment of overdue taxes, according to County Treasurer Rick Davis.

Recent months have brought a series of revelations about the Executive Inn’s tax delinquencies. The hotel owes about $33,400 in sales tax to the Indiana Department of Revenue, according to a lien filed in the Vanderburgh County Clerk’s office. That amount was due Aug. 31.

The Executive Inn also owes the state about $17,500 in withholding taxes, due in Dec. 2007.

Those two delinquencies are likely what prevented the state from renewing the hotel’s liquor license. The license’s expiration date was Dec. 20 but was later extended to Jan. 16. Even with the extra time, the Executive Inn failed to satisfy the Indiana Department of Revenue and the liquor license was not renewed.

According to Davis’ records in the Treasurer’s office, the hotel also owes about $8,600 in personal property taxes, which were due last fall. The amount includes a late fee of 10 percent.

Personal property taxes are charged on things other than real estate and buildings, such as furnishings.

To the federal government, the Executive Inn owes about $64,300 in payroll taxes, according to a lien filed in the Vanderburgh County Recorder’s office. That amount was due in 2007.

The Executive Inn is also four-months behind on paying innkeepers taxes, which it collects from guests. Davis said his office is forbidden by law from saying how much innkeepers tax is taken in by a particular business, since that information could reveal the hotel’s occupancy rate to competitors.

That said, the Executive Inn is not behind on everything. In June, the hotel paid $117,568.08 in property taxes on its real estate, Davis said.

Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/jan/23/22web-ExecInn/