Photo by Eric Ayres The McLure Hotel in downtown Wheeling is scheduled for a foreclosure sale by public auction on May 2. Jeffrey Morris, president of hotel owner Roxby McLure LLC, said he is hopeful a resolution with the lender will soon be reached to prevent this action from moving forward.

WHEELING — The McLure Hotel in downtown Wheeling is scheduled to hit the auction block on May 2, as foreclosure proceedings have been set in motion against current owner Roxby McLure LLC.

A trustee’s notice of sale of the property was placed this week, stating that a public auction of the historic hotel located at 1200 Market St. and its adjacent parking garage at 1215 Chapline St. has been scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 2, at the northwest front door of the Ohio County Courthouse.

On Wednesday, Jeffrey Morris, president of Roxby Development, expressed his confidence that the matter would be resolved before any public auction takes place.

“The lender and I are in active discussions to cure this unfortunate action in order to all move ahead in a positive way that is good for all, including the city of Wheeling and the downtown renaissance that’s unfolding,” Morris said on Wednesday. “I am confident that the lender and I can come to an amicable agreement quickly in order to stop the legal action and continue moving forward with progress and improvement at The McLure House Hotel.”

Morris said day-to-day operations would continues as normal at the hotel and that building staff, tenants would not be affected.

Last month, FA Management Inc., for which previous McLure owner Frances Garey is president, and FG Management LLC, for which Garey is a managing member, set the wheels in motion on the foreclosure of the McLure Hotel by filing a court action to remove Elgine McArdle as the original trustee on the deed of trust executed by Roxby McLure LLC and naming local attorney David Delk as substitute trustee. Delk published the notice of trustee’s sale on Tuesday — a mandatory action in the foreclosure proceedings, according to the deed of trust.

“This is very common in real estate foreclosures when a loan or debt is not paid off,” Delk said Wednesday, noting that Roxby had been given notice to cure the debt, but has not done so. “Notice of a sale has now been issued.”

Although Morris acknowledges hurdles Roxby has encountered in keeping on schedule with payment of debts owed on the property, he said the legal action came as a surprise.

“It was really upsetting to me, and shocking to see,” Morris said, maintaining that he has been in regular contact with the seller of the McLure Hotel, through which Roxby’s acquisition of the property was being financed.

Morris said he was somewhat blindsided by the notice, explaining that he was not told that such action might be coming, was never served with an in-person notice and was made aware of it only after someone brought to his attention the lengthy legal advertisement about it that was placed in the newspaper on Tuesday.

In 2021, Roxby purchased the historic McLure Hotel — also known as the McLure House — through a public auction from Garey, securing the sale with a winning bid of $6,245,000, with a $250,000 buyer’s premium. The property was transferred through a general warranty deed filed in August of 2021.

“It was seller-financed, with a 20% down payment at closing,” Morris explained, noting that he has been in regular contact with Garey and has kept her up to date on the latest developments at the hotel.

Morris said monthly payments on the McLure Hotel started out as interest-only payments, and until recently, the seller had been forgiving during months when payments had fallen behind due to fiscal challenges besetting Roxby. He said he has spoken to Garey since the trustee’s notice of sale was filed.

“I talk to Fran every day — I guess it’s her way of holding my feet to the fire to catch up quickly,” he said. “She’s willing to drop it. It’s what we’re working on. This is going to clear up. I’m confident that we’ll get this resolved with the seller.”

Garey could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

A total of $5.3 million is still owed on the balance for the purchase of the hotel and the garage, Morris said. The deed of trust filed in October of last year was filed to secure “prompt and punctual payment” of the principal amount of $5,465,704.47 by Roxby McLure to the seller’s companies. The deed of trust included pages of stipulations ranging from requirements to keep the property in good condition to payment of taxes and insurance.

Roxby Development has relied a great deal on investors to financially back its many ventures in Wheeling. These investments over the past few years have not only included the acquisition of the McLure Hotel, but also the Scottish Rite building, the 12th Street Garage, the Mount Carmel Monastery and other major endeavors.

While some deals with investors fall through, others take time to materialize, Morris indicated.

One of the most recent deals that came as a big step forward for Roxby and the McLure Hotel has been a recent national branding partnership. On March 31, the McLure Hotel became a Ramada by Wyndham hotel, coming under the umbrella of the Wyndham Hotel Group’s chain of worldwide hotels that boast more than 20 well-known hotel brands and have wide-reaching distribution, branding and online marketing power.

Morris said Roxby is also very close to closing a deal with a Baltimore firm to transition property management, payroll and other operational responsibilities.

Immediately after acquiring the McLure Hotel, Roxby had the massive downtown landmark painted white, updating it from its former tan-stucco facade and giving the hotel a fresh new look. In June of last year, Roxby held open house tours of the hotel to showcase an array of interior improvements that had been made over the course of the previous months. The hotel bar hosts regular activities and live music.

But that positive buzz around town has died down. A mechanics lien was filed in June 2022 by L&L Painting LLC of Glen Dale seeking payment of $67,249 for labor and materials provided on the 25,977-square-foot hotel and adjacent 14,188-square-foot parking garage. This past winter, several tax liens were filed against Roxby Development LLC for outstanding monthly tax payments owed to the State of West Virginia for half of 2022.

Morris noted that the past year has been tough, but Roxby is working through the turbulence. The McLure Hotel remains in operation, and the rooms are completely booked for the August weekend of this year’s Heritage Music Bluesfest — which is also sponsored by Roxby. With a deal for a new partner to manage the hotel and the Scottish Rite building, daily operations continue at the McLure Hotel.