Judge Allows Grosvenor Resort to Continue Operating

ORLANDO-US Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur B. Briskman is allowing one of the first hotels to be built on Walt Disney World property to remain open and operating while it restructures its financial base. Stung by a debtor’s call on a $49.9-million loan note, Grosvenor Orlando Associates of San Francisco has filed for Chapter 11 protection under the US Bankrtupcy Code. The 626-room hotel listed total debts of $50.9 million and assets between $10 million and $50 million, according to court filings.

The hotel listed $1.3 million in cash on hand, enough money to continue operating the property at 1850 Hotel Plaza Blvd. The hotel leases the land from Disney and says its payments to Disney are current, according to the bankruptcy petition. The property opened in 1972 as the Americana Dutch Resort.

The hotel’s major creditor is New York-based and Tokyo-owned Orix Credit Alliance, which asked a state circuit court to foreclose on the property in June 2003 when the $49.9 million mortgage note fell into default, according to court records.