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Languishing Padre may have new owner soon
| Tuesday, Oct 23 2007 9:55 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Oct 23 2007 9:59 PM
Downtown's iconic Padre Hotel may have a new owner by the end of the year.
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The lobby of the Padre Hotel has large open spaces. An open house of the Padre Hotel was held for potential buyers and investors in 2007 when this photo was taken.
A stained glass window in need of repair nevertheless shows the style of a bygone era. An open house of the Padre Hotel was held Monday for potential buyers.
A view toward the north from the Padre Hotel.
The Padre Hotel in downtown Bakersfield.
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Current owner Pacifica Enterprises LLC, a San Diego-area property management firm, is negotiating a sale to a San Diego company with multiple hotel and restaurant holdings, according to Donna Kunz, Bakersfield's economic development director.
Kunz would not name the potential buyer, but said if the sale goes through, the company would revive the circa-1928 building as a high-end boutique hotel.
The deal hinges on a Dec. 31 closing date for tax purposes, Kunz said.
Delays and controversies marked Pacifica's five-year effort to remake the historic hotel as condos.
Workers exposed to asbestos during wall demolitions filed a lawsuit, and neighboring businesses complained of junk piled in an adjacent lot during renovations.
Pacifica put the building on sale in June for $5.6 million.
Potential buyers have been told that some asbestos cleanup remains to be done, Kunz said.
The Temecula-based sales agent for the Padre, Paul Runkle of Phoenix-headquartered Hendricks & Partners, said the potential sale has yet to go into escrow.
"We're negotiating with some parties right now which could do some very exciting things with the Padre," Runkle said. "But nothing's been finalized."
August's tight capital markets have slowed sales negotiations, Runkle said.
The Padre Hotel is as famous for the personality of its former owner, Milton "Spartacus" Miller, as for its graceful facade.
Miller bought the building in 1954 and went on to battle the city over the installation of fire sprinklers in the hotel.
The city shut all but the bottom two floors of the Padre Hotel to overnight users in 1996.
Miller died in 1999 and left the building to his wife, Lora Gordon Miller, who sold it to Pacifica in 2002.