BRUNSWICK — After months of financial and operational struggles, Brunswick’s The Daniel hotel is up for sale.
The 24-room, 27,000-square-foot hotel at 10 Water St. is listed with Daigle Commercial Group for $2.99 million.
“As part of a strategic decision by Troca Hotels, The Daniel is on the market,” Abhijit “Beej” Das, CEO of Troca Hotels, The Daniel’s parent company, said in a statement Monday evening. “Troca Hotels, its team members, partners and investors are proud to have been a part of the history of this iconic asset and look forward to passing the torch to a new owner seeking to own and operate an incredibly special part of mid-coast Maine.”
The Daniel hotel in Brunswick in October. The hotel has faced a series of financial and operational difficulties over the last few months and is now for sale. Hannah LaClaire/The Times Record
The hotel is still open for special events by arrangement with the management.
Troca Hotels, “America’s leading cannabis-friendly hotel brand,” purchased The Daniel, then valued at about $2 million, in 2013 and launched a multi-million dollars renovation in 2015.
The Daniel, formerly known as The Captain Daniel Stone Inn, dates back to 1819. Property records show that the hotel has had at least three different owners in the past 15 years and was on the market for more than two years before Das purchased it.
The hotel has struggled over the past year.
Earlier this month, Das paid off an outstanding 2017 tax bill just 10 days before the hotel was scheduled to go into foreclosure. Boston East Brunswick Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Troca Hotels, paid $40,517 on Feb. 14.
The company still owes just under $40,000 in taxes for 2018, and another $40,000 for 2019, a town official said Monday, with an outstanding debt of $79,161.17. Interest is accruing daily.
The hotel paid its outstanding 2016 bill, another $40,000, in Feb. 2019, again just before it went into foreclosure.
The Daniel’s restaurant, Coast Bar and Bistro, has been closed since at least mid-January.
The hotel has also been operating on shortened hours and a sign on the door states that during the “off-season” the hotel will only be open on weekends and for special events.
In December, a notice from the Maine Revenue Service posted on the hotel’s door said it was “closed for business with the general public” and that the “seller’s registration certification of this establishment has been revoked for noncompliance” with the state’s tax statute. The hotel reopened a few days later and Das credited the closed to an “administrative error with accounting” but refused to comment further.
In October, The Daniel closed for three weeks for extensive repairs to its heating and air conditioning system, canceling dozens of reservations and a wedding with little notice.
Das said at the time that although it was a “very difficult decision” to close the hotel and cancel reservations, there was a chill coming and he could not sell rooms without heat and space heaters were not a viable option.
He said at the time he expected the repairs would cost between $50,000 and $100,000, not counting the loss in revenue caused by three weeks worth of vacancies.
According to the real estate listing, The Daniel has unfinished rooms that are nearly complete and “ready or a new owner to finish the units in their preferred style and furnishings. The addition of a new outdoor dining deck would enhance the property and generate additional revenues.”
Troca also owns The Stonehedge Hotel and Spa in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, which the Lowell Sun reported was set to go on the auction block this winter. The auction has since been postponed until March 8 after the company, Boston East Tyngsboro Holdings LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, owing nearly $4.3 million in liabilities. Under federal law, filing for bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay of attempts to collect debt from a debtor.
In 2018, the Massachusetts hotel was at risk of losing its license over more than $200,000 in unpaid back taxes owed to Tyngsboro, a debt which Das also attributed to an “administrative error.” Das paid the money back in full by April, but the Lowell Sun reported he has since fallen behind again, owing more than $70,000 for 2019 and 2020.
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