As city officials plot strategy for
saving the 2008 quilt show, they
also wonder if Bhupinder Singh
will meet the July 13 deadline of
making the final payment on the
Executive Inn.
“It’s pure speculation, but I
have to wonder if he was bluffing
last week when he said he had the
checks ready to make the final
payment,” Paducah Mayor Bill
Paxton said.
Paxton said it may have been
an attempt to force the city to increase
its offer to Singh to keep
him from buying the hotel.
Both sides agreed the city would
reimburse Singh the $2.2 million
he had already paid. Singh has
been operating the hotel and connecting
convention facilities since July 1, and said he has had additional expenses
of $700,000. The city felt $300,000
was more realistic.
After Singh said he had cashier’s
checks for $3.5 million to finalize the
purchase on June 12, the city said it was
no longer interested.
The mayor said that although Singh’s
attorney Jeff Wallace insisted on June 12
that Singh would follow through with the
purchase, he contacted the city the next
day to inquire about the city’s continued
interest in buying out Singh.
“He called me, but I had the call
transferred to David Denton (the city
attorney),” Paxton said.
Denton said Wallace wanted to know
the status of the city’s interest.
“I told him I wasn’t authorized to
make any statements on behalf of the
city, but that the city’s position was clear
in a story in that morning’s (Paducah
Sun) newspaper,” Denton said.
The story included comments from
the mayor that the city was no longer
interested in negotiating with Singh.
“Our conversation was short, and he
didn’t reveal anything to indicate whether
something else was going on,” Denton said.
As of late Tuesday, Singh had not given
the cashier’s checks to owner Yvonne
Holsapple, according to Spivey Gault,
her attorney. Gault said he has had no
formal contact with anyone representing
Singh since last week.
Paxton said efforts to finalize a contract
with Singh for the 2008 quilt show
can’t wait until the July 13 final payment
deadline. Officials of the city, Paducah-
McCracken County Convention Center
Board and the American Quilter’s Society
met Tuesday to discuss strategy for
negotiating a contract with Singh.
“We have a strategy, but we need to
keep that private,” Paxton said. “All I
can say is that we are doing the best we
can to make the 2008 quilt show happen.”
AQS officials declined comment.
No one representing Singh or the Executive
Inn attended the meeting, convention
center board Chairman Jim
Sigler said. Sigler said he didn’t know
if anyone from the Executive Inn was
invited.
AQS has signed a tentative contract
with Holsapple that would take effect
if Singh doesn’t finalize the purchase,
Sigler said.
Paxton and Sigler said that no deadline
has been set by AQS for finalizing a
contract, but time is short.
Paxton thinks a contract should be
signed within three weeks, or the 2008
show would be in serious jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Singh has been sent a notice
that he’s in default on his purchase
contract and has until July 13 to make
the final payment. If Singh misses the
deadline, he’ll lose the $2.2 million and
other investments he’s made in the hotel.
On Friday, Jeff Wallace, Singh’s attorney,
said he and Singh were continuing
to review documents related to the sale,
including leases for convention facilities
and the land on which the hotel is built.
Wallace said Singh would “proceed
with the transaction in the manner permitted
by the sales agreement,” but
would not elaborate. If he can show that
Holsapple failed to live up to her part
of the agreement to provide valid lease
agreements for convention facilities and
other land, he could seek to void the purchase
contract.
Singh has declined requests for interviews.
Wallace referred questions Tuesday
to Wilma Doom, Singh’s assistant.
She also declined comment.
By Bill Bartleman
The Paducah Sun bartleman@paducahsun.com
As published in the Paducah Sun, June 20, 2007
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