Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503210117
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
1962: Name is American Motor Inns Inc.; company has net earnings of $2,209.
1965: Owns 24 motels; buys building on Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke for headquarters that includes twin offices and sauna for Adolph and Joel Krisch.
1966: Begins American Motel School to train motel workers and administrators; announces plans in July for Salem Holiday Inn; net earnings of $774,853, up from $406,739 the year before.
1969: Opens 32nd hotel; motel school has 2,300 students; also forms Universal Communications Co. to supply telephone systems for hotels, motels and other businesses.
1970: Announces Holiday Inn at Frenchman's Reef in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; announces plans for 11 more motels, including fourth in Roanoke Valley, to bring total to 43; earnings are $1.5 million, 82 cents a share.
1971: Holiday Inn at Peters Creek opens; a new office building behind Holiday Inn on Franklin Road is announced; ground is broken for Frenchman's Reef; AMI announces that its properties handled more than 2 million guests in 1970.
1972: Buys Holiday Inn in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is turned down for franchise to build hotel in Newark, N.J., airport area.
1973: Sells motel school; takes Holiday Inns Inc. to court and wins right to build motel in Newark.
1974: Has 53 Holiday Inns in eight states and the Caribbean; collects $4.5 million from lawsuit against Holiday Inns Inc. because of delay at Newark.
1975: Deal falls through to sell operating assets and part of business of Universal Communications to TRE Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif.; has 59 motels.
1978: Discusses being a partner with Great American Industries Inc. in Atlantic City casino; has record profits of $1.53 a share and pays a 10-cent dividend, its first since 1972.
1979: Earnings are $5.4 million; establishes division to manage motels for other owners; Sheraton in Roanoke is built with industrial development bonds.
1980: Sells first motel it built to Jayantelal and Kantaken Patel; has earnings of $6.7 million, 25 percent of which came from Universal Communications; loses $6.8 million lawsuit brought by man paralyzed in accident at Frenchman's Reef.
1981: Celebrates 25th year in business; earns $8.8 million; Sheraton opens and is called a "prototype" for two new AMI motels to be built at Frederick and Timonium, Md.; has 51 hotels in 10 states; Samuel Krisch Jr. joins company.
1983: Earns $18.4 million; Adolph and Joel Krisch and sister Rosalie Shaftman sell shares in AMI for $29 million to Prime Motor Inns.
1984: Prime Motor Inns and Americana Hotels Corp. subsidiary stage bidding war for AMI stock; Prime, which already owns 40 percent, wins at $21.50 a share; deal totals about $300 million.
1985: Adolph, Joel and Sam Krisch charter Krisch Hotels Inc. to buy back 23 of the hotels they sold to Prime Motor Inns; has 10-year commitment from Westinghouse Credit to borrow $118 million; sells stock in Krisch American Inns for $3 a share to finance motels in Wytheville and Alexandria.
1987: Adolph Krisch resigns from board; Joel becomes chairman and Sam is named president; KAI net earnings in second quarter are $76,294; Krisch and division of Westinghouse buy three Dallas-area hotels, a Holiday Inn and two Hampton Inns.
1992: Sells Wytheville Ramada Inn to Topline Realty Associates, L.P., a partnership of some Krisch officers and others associated with the mortgage holder. Gives Days Inn in Alexandria to a subsidiary of Westinghouse Credit Corp. because it can't meet loan payments. Conveys Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza in Kansas City and Ramada Inn in New Orleans, owned by Galaxy Hotels Ltd., to First Hotel Investment Corp., a subsidiary of Westinghouse. Gives First Hotel a 20 percent limited partnership in three companies that own seven hotels in Texas, Missouri and Alabama. Sells Sheraton Inn, Newark, Del., because property isn't making enough money to pay its mortgage. Forfeits Hampton Inn, Glen Burnie, Md., to Westinghouse subsidiary. Sells Holiday Inn, Suffolk, because property isn't making enough money to pay its bills.
Krisch American Inns Inc. is left with assets worth $10,000 and one hotel, a 49 percent limited partnership investment in Sugar Bay Plantation Resort, a Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza property, through another Krisch company, Krisch Realty. Future of company depends upon its or Sugar Bay's ability to raise capital and/or restructure financing of $2.5 million on Sugar Bay.
Company loses $5.3 million in 1990-92.
1993: Forfeits interest in Sugar Bay Resort.
1994: Files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization for three companies. Loses last hotel management contract and announces it will give last seven motels owned by Krisch Realty to lender.
by CNB