Claremont Going to Auction?

According to the SF Business Times, The Claremont Hotel and Spa in Berkeley may be sent to auction on November 8. Owners of the hotel and club filed for bankruptcy last year after taking a dive in the recession, and was put on the market for $80 back in May. The complicated, billion-dollar bankruptcy case started when Morgan Stanley had paid $3.1 billion in 2007 for the Claremont and 4 other properties at the height of the market, and then defaulted in 2011. A private equity partnership restructured Morgan Stanley's debt, but was unable to pay $1.5 billion of mortgages and mezzanine loans, and filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2011 listing all five properties for sale. Now the whole portfolio is going up for auction, with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (a major creditor in the bankruptcy) as a "stalking horse bidder," meaning if no other qualified buyers submit bids the properties will go to GIC for its pre-auction bid of $1.46 billion. [SF Business Times/Photo: Edward O'Conner]