SALES OF DAYS INNS TO BE RESET

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992                   TAG: 9201240236
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SALES OF DAYS INNS TO BE RESET
Foreclosure sales for Days Inns in Roanoke, Christiansburg and Staunton are expected to be rescheduled in coming months, according to a Roanoke lawyer who is the trustee for the motels.
Sale of the inns was scheduled for last March and April, but the action was averted by a bankruptcy petition by the owner in a Miami, Fla., court in March 1991. The owner is an Avon, Conn., investment group.
Later in the year, Home Savings and Loan Association of Kansas City, holder of the note, was taken over by the Resolution Thrift Corp., a government agency operating failed thrifts.
The bankruptcy court has authorized the RTC to foreclose on these motels and two other Days Inns at Augusta, Ga., and Williamsport, Md., owned by the same investors, said Michael Smeltzer, the trustee.
An appraisal of the motels and an environmental audit must be completed before foreclosure, he said. Smeltzer is getting the rent as emergency receiver. A management company is running the motels.
Smeltzer, acting for the three Virginia motels, said the sales will be held as soon as the RTC approves them, probably in 60 to 90 days. The RTC "wants to keep them open . . . They are paying their own way" and paying the employees, he said.
The RTC probably will authorize bids on the motels, he said. At least 70 percent of the appraised value is an acceptable bid by a note holder in case an adequate bid is not made at the sale, Smeltzer said. Prospective buyers look for bargains at foreclosure sales, he added.
The inns, operating a total of more than 500 rooms, are getting their share of the business, Smeltzer said, but they are coping with the slump in the lodging industry. The Roanoke inn, on Orange Avenue, is the largest, with 260 rooms. The others, both at Interstate 81 exits, have 122 rooms each.
The Augusta, Ga., inn, located near Fort Stewart, had 100 percent occupancy when it was taken over by the Army during Desert Storm last year, Smeltzer said.
The five Days Inns had about $20 million of debt when their owner, Richard Roberts Hotel Income Properties Ltd., filed for reorganization. Foreclosure was planned by the savings and loan more than three years ago, but the Roberts group restructured its debt and extended the notes, Smeltzer said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB