Historic luxury hotel in West Virginia owned by state's governor heads to auction

A historic luxury hotel in West Virginia owned by the state's governor is going up for auction later this month after defaulting on a loan.

It will be the second auction in less than three months for The Greenbrier hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family-controlled company Greenbrier Hotel Corp.

The latest auction for the 710-room luxury hotel at 101 W. Main St. is scheduled for Oct. 25. at 2 p.m. at the Greenbrier County Courthouse in Lewisburg, West Virginia, according to a legal notice posted Thursday. The auction is for 60.5 acres comprising the hotel and parking lot.

The notice comes two-and-a-half months after the century-old hotel was last put on the auction block. Justice, who is running for West Virginia's open Senate seat in November, and his family company fended off the first auction after reaching an agreement with Beltway Capital, a Maryland-based investment firm and national note buyer, to stop the sale.

In a statement from the Justice family at the time, they said Beltway Capital would receive "a specific amount to be paid in full by Oct. 24."

Justice is listed as the borrower of a $142 million promissory note dated March 2014, with the beneficiary being JPMorgan Chase Bank. Beltway Capital purchased the note from JPMorgan in July.

The scheduled auction, falling a day after the Justice family has promised to pay the owed amount in full, could lead to a resolution — with either the family or a new investor owning what is a historically significant piece of real estate. For potential buyers seeking to acquire The Greenbrier on Oct. 25, the legal notice states that cash must be in hand to be paid on the day of the sale.

Gov. Justice's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoStar News.

J. Patrick Jones, the trustee of the sale, told CoStar News that the October auction is a continuation of the prior notice of sale and that the Justice family could "always work out something with the lender" ahead of the auction. Jones deferred additional questions to the attorney representing the lender. The lender's attorney did not immediately respond to a media request from CoStar News.

The Greenbrier's location in White Sulphur Springs is about two hours southeast of Charleston, West Virginia, and about three hours west of Richmond, Virginia. The National Historic Landmark hotel is just down the road from The Greenbrier Sporting Club, a private club that is also owned by the governor's family.

In June, the Justice family and Virginia-based Carter Bank & Trust settled a dispute tied to The Greenbrier Sporting Club and more than $300 million in debt. Both sides agreed to a "pathway of curtailment and payoff of the outstanding loans" with the bank, according to Carter Bank's second-quarter earnings report.

The Justice family reduced its debt owed to the bank by $7.8 million and had an outstanding loan balance of $294.1 million as of June 30, according to Carter Bank's earnings.