Problems at various businesses within Michael and Steve Roberts’ Roberts Cos. have been detailed for more than a year by the St. Louis Business Journal, but their worst news yet appeared last week when Bank of America filed a $34 million lawsuit against the Roberts brothers.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri, requesting the balance owed on $43 in loans Bank of America issued to six Roberts Hotels properties in Atlanta, Dallas, Shreveport, La., Spartanburg, S.C. and Tampa, Fla. in 2007.
Each of the brothers is 50 percent guarantor on the loans, according to documents filed with the court.
According to the suit, Bank of America sent default notices on Feb. 27 and March 6 demanding the “immediate payment of the outstanding principal balance, plus late charges, interest at the past due rate, extension fees, and all other indebtedness.”
“As of March 30, 2012, the Outstanding Indebtedness included principal in the amount of $34,278,966.21, late charges of $2,214.12, accrued interest of $376,049.69 and protective advances in the amount of $11,500,” Bank of America claims in the filing.
The bank also claims the Roberts brothers owe more than $300,000 in unpaid real estate taxes on the hotels in addition to liens that haven’t been satisfied, which also breached terms of the loan.
The Roberts brothers also agreed to pay legal fees and court costs if their failure to repay the loans ended up in court, according to the filing.
Michael Roberts is CEO of the Roberts Cos., a private business group based in St. Louis that include hotels, condos and TV stations. Steven Roberts is president. Both are former aldermen in the city of St. Louis
Their business, Roberts Broadcasting, which owns four television stations (WRBU-Channel 46 in St. Louis, WZRB in Columbia, S.C.; WRBJ in Jackson, Miss.; and WAZE in Evansville, Ind.) filed for bankruptcy in October. The bankruptcy filing lists more than $3.1 million in liabilities and less than $640,000 in assets, according to media reports.
Roberts Hotel Group owns two local hotels, the Roberts Mayfair Hotel at 806 St. Charles Street downtown and a Comfort Inn at 4630 Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End. The Central West End hotel previously was operated as a Hotel Indigo. Earlier this year the Mayfair left the Wyndham Hotels system to operate independently.
Both local hotels have unmet sales tax burdens. Last month, the state of Missouri filed two suits against Roberts Cos. subsidiaries in St. Louis County Circuit Court seeking back sales taxes on both hotels.
The company’s real estate holdings include a vacant $70 million condo tower in downtown St. Louis.
The bank, its attorneys and the Roberts brothers have all declined media requests.
