Mayor Marl Says Saline Lodging Group Hopes to Strike Deal To Save Stake in Hotel

At Monday's Saline City Council meeting, Mayor Brian Marl said the Saline Lodging Group, LLC, owners of the stalled Saline hotel project, will meet later this week with "one singular majority interest party" to discuss a deal to complete the hotel and allow the members of the group to retain some ownership of the project.

In September, the Saline Lodging Group, a 21-member group of local businesses and individuals who own the hotel, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. The project has been at a standstill since April of 2020.

Court records show the Saline Lodging Group blame the cause of bankruptcy on Peters Building Company and Jim Haeussler, who was the contractor for the project. According to bankruptcy documents, SLG blames Haeussler and Peters Building Group for costing the project $3.5 million in construction financing and also alleges that PBC/Haeussler misappropriated $1.5 million in funds from SLG.

Court documents say the proposed agreement between SLG and the new partner would include a cash downpayment by the partner and monthly payments to pay creditors. The partner will also provide the capital and expertise to finish the property and begin operations by late 2022 or early 2023.

The creditors are expected to receive at least as much as they would have in liquidation, according to the documents.

Mayor Marl said A&H Lawn Service has been retained by members of the SLG group to complete grading and seeding on the site.

Bankruptcy filings showed $2.7 million in assets against nearly $5.8 million in liabilities.

The largest creditor is Your Enterprise Solutions, LLC, a Saline-based company that lists Elizabeth Haeussler as an officer. SLG owes nearly $3.8 million to Your Enterprise Solutions. That money was lent in August of 2020.

William Long is also listed as a creditor owed $400,000. This debt was incurred in March of 2020.

Other businesses with substantial claims include Tri-County Electric ($335,000), Quality Roofing ($53,00), Hoffman Plastering ($115,000), Chelsea Lumber ($68,000).

The City of Saline is owed $72,000 in property tax. The Washtenaw County Treasurer is owed $57,549.10.

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