HOMESTEAD GEARS UP FOR WOULD-BE INVESTORS HOT SPRINGS RESORT SEEKS CAPITAL

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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993                   TAG: 9301260131
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS                                LENGTH: Short
HOMESTEAD GEARS UP FOR WOULD-BE INVESTORS HOT SPRINGS RESORT SEEKS CAPITAL
Managers of The Homestead resort are preparing for February visits by about a dozen prospective investors who would help underwrite the cost of renovating the historic hotel.
A new brochure has drawn interest from a number of financial people, Daniel Ingalls, president of Virginia Hot Springs Inc., the resort's owner, said Monday.
In December, the company hired a Baltimore investment banker to help find capital for its proposed renovation and expansion, a program likely to cost $30 million to $50 million. The work is scheduled to start this year.
Also on Monday, Ingalls denied rumors that the hotel might file for bankruptcy. The "ebb and flow of cash" during the Christmas holidays may have caused a late payment for an employee, starting a report of financial problems, Ingalls said. "My sense of a rumor is that it was started by people who do not have enough to do," he said.
The hotel reported that October revenue reached a record $5 million and the Christmas holidays produced about $900,000.
Meanwhile, the hotel executive said some renovation has started in a few guest rooms and Crystal Ballroom "and a little on the golf course."
Ingalls said he expects a choice of a major investor to be made no earlier than April and no later than July.
The new financial backing could take the form of a minority investment, strategic partnership or some other business combination, he said last month.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB