A Texas bank is the new owner of the Days Inn hotel in Oil City as a result of a sheriff’s sale held Wednesday in the Venango County courthouse.
First Western SBLC Inc. of Dallas was the sole bidder for the property at a price of $1,810.45. The figure is for the fees and costs associated with the sale.
The notice of sale for the 100-plus room hotel, closed since mid-January, was issued in March because a foreclosure action had been filed against the owners for failure the pay the loan. The loan, held by First Western, is pegged at $1,417,388.56.
“My client is willing to listen to all proposals for this property,” said Jonathan R. McCloskey, a Pittsburgh attorney representing First Western. “We don’t know yet what to do with it.”
While the sale proceedings lasted only minutes because of the lack of bidders for the property, the transaction drew keen interest from three key figures whose work includes the revitalization of Oil City.
Attending the sale were Sam Breene, chairman of the county commissioners; Oil City Mayor Bill Moon; and Kathy Bailey, director of the city’s Main Street program.
“It’s a key piece of property in our downtown,” said Bailey. “Since it’s been closed it has been difficult to hold events because we have used it a lot.”
Moon told the attorney representing First Western that the city would assist in finding a new owner for the business.
“We will work with anyone interested in it,” said Moon. “The city has some tax incentive programs and other tools that could be used to help a buyer. The city needs a hotel. Plus, the location along the river is prime and we need a business there.”
“We might be able to assist with federal or state money,” said Breene. “This is very important. We were working with a developer and then the virus and the shutdown happened and that stopped.”
The hotel, constructed as a five-story Holiday Inn at a cost of $1.6 million, opened for business in August 1965 on a 3.5 acre site formerly occupied by the Pennsylvania Railroad depot. The rail stations were demolished in a major downtown redevelopment project in the early 1960s.
The property owners eventually left the Holiday Inn chain and in 2001 renamed it the Arlington. Ownership of the hotel changed again and it became affiliated with America’s Best Value Inn.
In 2013, it became a Days Inn, part of the Wyndham hotel chain.
“We want to work with the bank to find a new owner,” said Bailey. “That property is poised to do better than it has.”
