Owner cites debt for hotel foreclosures
August 8, 2012 at 2:00 am in Grand Forks Herald
Dave Graf, former managing partner of two recently foreclosed Grand Forks hotels, said he was “handcuffed” by an investment management company when trying to make loan payments on the properties. Continue Reading
51k a month….That’s a hell of a lot of rooms just to break even….Not including all the other expenses….
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So in order to make it in the hotel business you can’t have a difficult mortgage arrangement in a down economy. It doesn’t appear to be about too many motel rooms in GF.
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What’s the average daily occupancy motel rate in Grand Forks?
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Once I heard 60% & also mention that GF had the highest occupancy rate in the country. Of course what does that actually mean? If you only had 100 rooms in the city total & rented 99, so what.
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I heard 60 also, but that was years ago…before even CanadINN. I look at all the motels in GF, and note the lack of events day in and day out, and I’m amazed any place can make a buck.
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The one down town really doesn’t have much of a draw at all anymore does it? Back when it was built they had conventions down there and a lot of business downtown, but I’d think that now it’s almost by mistake or over crowding at all the other motels that it’s even found anymore….
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In comparison Bismarck’s downtown looks really healthy. It looks like the fact that the main mall abutts downtown as well as the convention center & the Capitol is only a few blocks north of downtown creates vitality. In addition there is the Bismarck Expressway that runs across the south edge of the downtown & mall & connects @ opposite ends of I-90. The only thing its missing is the downtown being right on the Missouri R. The Bismarck airport is only a couple miles from downtown as well vs. about 6 mi. from downtown in GF.
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Decades ago the Town House had great name recognition and quite a lock on catering. Then motels started going up in the south end. Of course, the city council didn’t help much by subsidizing Canad and the Alerus.
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Interesting that the downtowns of Minot, Bismarck & Fargo have major hotels in them & not just a motels like GF. Of course GF used to have the Ryan & Dakotah. They made downtown kinda classy.
Now with about 3000 rooms in GF a 60% occupancy would be about 1800/night. hard to imagine but true. Canucks say they can spend 2 nights in GF ,eat & buy $100s of purchases & still come out ahead vs. shopping in Winnipeg.
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I believe the long term Cannucks tend to be loyal to certain motels for decades. The Happy Host over on 32nd is one of them. Perhaps newer visitors go to Canad, although not all Winnipeggers are happy with that chain.
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” Canucks say they can spend 2 nights in GF ,eat & buy $100s of purchases & still come out ahead vs. shopping in Winnipeg.”
Right now, the $C is exactly at par. Which means they save on the PST and GST, plus the fact that things just cost more up there. Liquor at the duty free on the Emerson side is more expensive than in GF.
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