The Autoport is not going up for auction, but the owners have had to declare the business bankrupt to have a fighting chance to save it.
“We can see the light now,” co-owner Greg Mussi says. “We’re already in a much better place than we were a few days ago.”
The Autoport — Pennsylvania’s first and oldest motel — has been in financial straits for months. Greg Mussi, along with his wife and co-owner Lynda Mussi, have been fighting off foreclosure since last year, when the Autoport appeared on the reality TV show “Hotel impossible.”
The show’s host convinced Enterprise Bank to give the Mussis a few extra months to turn things around, but that deadline got pushed up after the show aired last October. Since then, the Mussis has been dealing with foreclosure proceedings, a looming $1.4 million debt, and trying to find a way to save the business in which have the couple has invested countless hours and dollars.
Mussi says that filing for bankruptcy (or, technically, filing for Chapter 11 reorganization under Pennsylvania’s bankruptcy law) was not his first choice, but if he didn’t do something before Thursday he wouldn’t have had a choice at all. The Autoport was slated to be auctioned off in a sheriff’s sale on Thursday. That prospect has now been sidelined.
At least now Mussi says he has 120 days to come up with a business plan that follows certain provisions in the bankruptcy law, during which time he’ll only have to pay the interest on the Autoport’s mortgage instead of paying off roughly $1.4 million all at once.
“As much as I hate that we had to file for bankruptcy, we’re fortunate that we have people who have expressed interest in investing in the business,” Mussi says. “A lot of people get to this point and think, ‘now I have to rebuild everything from scratch.’”
Mussi says there are at least two investors who have expressed interest in buying into the Autoport. He says one is a State College businessman who values the Autoport’s history as a State College landmark, while the other has experience running hotels in State College and the Centre Region. Mussi declined to give any names while negotiations are underway, but says he expects to have announcement “in a matter of weeks, instead of a matter of months.”
Mussi knows that some people have been critical of his business practices, and to a certain extent, he says they’re right. He’s a chef first and foremost and loves his work running Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill, which was formerly known as the Autoport Restaurant. He admits that he has little experience running the business side of a hotel, which is why he wants to bring an investor aboard who has more business experience.
“If I’m guilty of anything, it’s that I was too naive and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Mussi says of his decision to buy the Autoport in 2007. “But I was so seduced by this property. I love this place, and I’m not complaining.”
That’s why he puts in 12 to 16 hour days, seven days a week. That’s why he and his wife invested much of their personal savings into the property. That’s why they’ve replaced roofs and water systems, renovated rooms, and “exposed [themselves] to embarrassment on national television.”
But for everything they’ve been through, Mussi says he and the Autoport aren’t going anywhere.
“The real news here is that Big Daddy Bangers will be playing here on April 17,” Mussi laughs.
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