Electricity temporarily turned off at Holiday Inn

SHEFFIELD - Two days before a scheduled court hearing between the city and the Atlanta-based company that leases the property that's the site of the troubled Sheffield Holiday Inn, the electricity at the hotel was turned off, the second time in a month.

Half a dozen cleaning women and half a dozen managers sat in the lobby at 11 a.m. Monday. Nobody would confirm that the electricity was turned off, but all the computers were shut off and the hotel was silent inside.

Barbara Hall, general manager for the Sheffield hotel, declined to comment.

Sheffield Mayor Billy Don Anderson confirmed the electricity was turned off at 8 a.m. Monday and a hotel employee said electricity was restored in the early afternoon.

"Our involvement at the moment is to anxiously await Oct. 1, when the local courts will consider the temporary restraining order," Anderson said.

Portfolio-Sheffield, a subsidiary of resort management company Kronos Hotels and Resorts LLC, filed a complaint against the city Sept. 15 in response to the city council's Aug. 22 vote to terminate the lease because of tax payment defaults.

The seven-page complaint requests a temporary restraining order against the city and states that the city breached the lease by not allowing Portfolio-Sheffield 90 days notice to "cure" its "alleged default."

The complaint will be heard by Circuit Court Judge Hal Hughston at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The past six weeks have been a whirlwind for the hotel that temporarily lost its flagship and electrical power and has had allegations of unpaid taxes, salaries, health care and unemployment benefits.

The 202-room hotel employs an estimated 70 people and had its lease transferred to Kronos Hotels and Resorts, LLC out of Marietta, Ga., in June 2007.

Allen Hughes, general manager of Sheffield Utilities, said he doesn't comment on specific cases, but said the utility gives customers at least 14 days notification of when their electricity will be turned off because of nonpayment.

Peter Mathon, a spokesman for Kronos Hotels and Resorts, declined to comment.

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@TimesDaily.com