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Glenelly Inn sale closes at $1.365 million

 Sonoma County Assistant Treasurer Jonathan Kadlec said Tuesday that the sale of the Glenelly Inn to Ashish and Anastasia Patel, a husband-wife partnership who own and operate the Shoreline Cottages on Highway 1 in Fort Bragg is complete.

The $1.365 million deal not only clears the Sonoma County delinquent Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), but also other debts incurred by the former owner Kristi Jeppesen.

Kadlec pointed out that he negotiated settlement amounts for a host of interested parties that had claims against Jeppesen. "Everybody walked away with something," he said.

By the time the county seized the property last November for nonpayment of TOT, the debts, interest and claims by major lien holders on the property included Westamerica Bank, which inherited loans made by the former Sonoma Valley Bank when it bought that failed institution and held notes for loans totaling about $1.1 million. Next in line was the county, which was owed secured property taxes of $60,000 and TOT revenue of $380,000 (the majority in interest). The IRS said it was owed $90,000, and a Jeppesen family relative was owed $24,000. Also in line was the Employment Development Division, which was owed some $7,000 and there were individual liens totaling more than $50,000 from clients Jeppesen had represented her vacation rental management business.

In order to close, Kadlec had to negotiate an interest deduction with the county on the delinquent taxes, an interest deduction of $100,000 from Westamerica Bank, clear the EDD claim, get the IRS to drop its claim, settle with the family relative, and get the lien-holders from the vacation rental management claims to accept 20 cents on the dollar for what they were owed.

After the interest charges were eliminated, the county actually netted $86,000 in TOT money.

Anastasia Patel, who goes by "Sia," told the Index-Tribune in an email last month that they plan to "modernize the existing property, while preserving its overall look and feel in order to maintain its part of Glen Ellen's history." She added that, after escrow closes in mid-June, they intend to start renovations on the 10-guest room facility, at 5131 Warm Springs Road, with the goal of re-opening in the fall.