For Sale: The only aviation-themed, all-suites hotel in the Midwest

Jay Honeck

Jay Honeck

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jun 6, 2008
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Ingleside, TX
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Jay Honeck
Now's your chance to hang out with pilots all day long, too! As seen in AOPA Pilot Magazine, GA News, and a host of other aviation periodicals, I present for your consideration the Alexis Park Inn & Suites:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140475263569#ht_582wt_1135

:cheerswine:

If you've ever wanted a way to make money in aviation, without actually being IN aviation (to my knowledge, the only real way to make money in aviation!) -- this is IT.

Meet pilots from all over the world, host fly-ins and pool parties -- and have a blast while doing it!

Questions? Fire away...
 
Someone's gonna get a turnkey haven.

As for me, I'm ready for another visit to Port A...
 
SCCutler said:
Someone's gonna get a turnkey haven.

As for me, I'm ready for another visit to Port A...
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I hope it ends up going to a pilot who loves working in what amounts to a large aviation museum, right next to an active runway! :wink2:
 
It says local pickup preferred...will you ship UPS on my dollar? :p

Really though, it really looks like a fantastic place, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
 
Arbiter419 said:
It says local pickup preferred...will you ship UPS on my dollar? :p

Really though, it really looks like a fantastic place, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
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Trust me -- if I could ship the place to Mustang Island, I would. It would save me the next three years of work, getting the Harbor Inn converted to the aviation theme.

It is a very cool place. Mary and I poured our heart and soul into the Alexis, and it's hard to let it go. Sadly, we've discovered that being 1,240 miles away is just a bit too far away to run a business.
 
Jay, its ashame Univ of Iowa doesn't have a hotel managment school it would be perfect for that. Two other thoughts for you first along those lines have you approached the Univeristy to see if they were interested? University's love to gobble up land. Second it would be a good idea to include in the sales listing the amount of land the hotel sits on. I hate to say it but the land may be more valuable to someone than the hotel. Of course if you have a ground lease that would be irrelvant.
 
AdamZ said:
Jay, its ashame Univ of Iowa doesn't have a hotel managment school it would be perfect for that. Two other thoughts for you first along those lines have you approached the Univeristy to see if they were interested? University's love to gobble up land. Second it would be a good idea to include in the sales listing the amount of land the hotel sits on. I hate to say it but the land may be more valuable to someone than the hotel. Of course if you have a ground lease that would be irrelvant.
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The land is not for sale.
 
Is the Courtesy Car included? :wink2:

Good luck with the sale, hopefully the new owners will conntinue with the theme and passion you and your wife put into it.
 
SCCutler said:
Someone's gonna get a turnkey haven.

As for me, I'm ready for another visit to Port A...
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So you gonna stay at Jay's place this time or just use the courtesy car again? :D
 
Is this price for the actual hotel and land? Or is one simply buying the contents and then paying someone else to lease it? Those are some pretty big details that aren't clear.
 
jesse said:
Is this price for the actual hotel and land? Or is one simply buying the contents and then paying someone else to lease it? Those are some pretty big details that aren't clear.
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Jess Jay said the land is not for sale so it seems to be the business and everything that goes with it from lamps to pool chemicals.
 
jesse said:
Is this price for the actual hotel and land? Or is one simply buying the contents and then paying someone else to lease it? Those are some pretty big details that aren't clear.
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The ad is quite clear. The business is for sale -- not the land.
 
Jay Honeck said:
The ad is quite clear. The business is for sale -- not the land.
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"For sale is the Midwest's only aviation-themed, all-suites hotel located in Iowa City, IA -- the home of the University of Iowa."

That, to me, implies that the hotel is for sale. It appears that the hotel itself isn't actually for sale based on what you've said here - certainly not based on the description on the eBay listing. I cannot imagine that you would make a sale based on that description - which is fine I guess because not many business men would drop the money without looking into everything.
 
Very, very unclear. Is the Hotel for sale, or just it's contents and business ownership. The business without the bricks and board building isn't worth anything. Is the building for sale but not the land it sits on?
 
I think this is the line that covers the question:
The business includes an assumable lease that runs through 2015, subject to the lessor's approval. (Financial eligibility is foremost, of course.)
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gprellwitz said:
I think this is the line that covers the question:
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Terzackly.

I think it improbable that anyone with the ability to seriously consider owning the business would miss that detail.
 
If the buyer assumes he can make the his desired ROI plus the recovery of his investment during the remaining five-year leasehold, it might might be an attractive opportunity. Otherwise, no deal. I would expect that to be such a transaction to be strategic rather than financial, as defined by the M&A guys.

As a general rule, a business with that type of return opportunity is hard to find.
 
wabower said:
If the buyer assumes he can make the his desired ROI plus the recovery of his investment during the remaining five-year leasehold, it might might be an attractive opportunity. Otherwise, no deal.
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On the other hand, with only five years left on the lease, it is highly likely that an interested buyer would contact the landlord and negotiate an assignment of the lease that included an extension of the term. It is not likely that the owner can generate enough revenue to recover his entire investment plus a desired ROI over the five year term.

-Skip
 
wabower said:
If the buyer assumes he can make the his desired ROI plus the recovery of his investment during the remaining five-year leasehold, it might might be an attractive opportunity. Otherwise, no deal. I would expect that to be such a transaction to be strategic rather than financial, as defined by the M&A guys.

As a general rule, a business with that type of return opportunity is hard to find.
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Purchasing/running/owning an aviation themed, all-suites hotel, with all the accoutrements of an aviation museum, is not something you buy -- or do -- to get rich.

You do it to enjoy the company of pilots, to immerse yourself in aviation history, and to have a great excuse to fly. The hotel business itself is (and should be) a fun side-line to the real purpose for owning the Alexis.

These reasons trump all others, and anyone who buys the Alexis with any other intentions will likely fail. The bottom line is that almost any good businessman can run a hotel, but it's going to take a genuine aviation enthusiast to keep the Alexis purring along.

If that person doesn't come along, I'll be sad -- and I don't mean financially.
 
Understood, but one of the historic problems with aviation-related endeavors is that emotion somehow trumps business judgement.

I do business deals to make money and (now) fly airplanes for fun. So far I've been able to separate the motives and spend money accordingly. YMMV.

Jay Honeck said:
Purchasing/running/owning an aviation themed, all-suites hotel, with all the accoutrements of an aviation museum, is not something you buy -- or do -- to get rich.

You do it to enjoy the company of pilots, to immerse yourself in aviation history, and to have a great excuse to fly. The hotel business itself is (and should be) a fun side-line to the real purpose for owning the Alexis.

These reasons trump all others, and anyone who buys the Alexis with any other intentions will likely fail. The bottom line is that almost any good businessman can run a hotel, but it's going to take a genuine aviation enthusiast to keep the Alexis purring along.

If that person doesn't come along, I'll be sad -- and I don't mean financially.
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And it's worth noting- the Alexis Park has fed the Honeck's, and kept them in blue gas and airplane parts, for quite a while. The established business has value, if the right people come along.
 
And those years have used up much of the value and opportunity arising from the ground lease. With a pre-negotiated extension, it might be worth a shot. Without it, it's a tough deal. But that's why it's on ebay.

SCCutler said:
And it's worth noting- the Alexis Park has fed the Honeck's, and kept them in blue gas and airplane parts, for quite a while. The established business has value, if the right people come along.
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wabower said:
And those years have used up much of the value and opportunity arising from the ground lease. With a pre-negotiated extension, it might be worth a shot. Without it, it's a tough deal. But that's why it's on ebay.
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And that is what due-diligence and contract negotiations are for. I deals I do, I look at the financial metrics as-is, and as-could-be. If the desired return isn't there, then we look elsewhere. I haven't looked at the metriics for Alexis Park, but the challenge will be obtaining enough cash to pay the purchase price - assuming that room/ancillary revenues cover the operating expenses & provide profit. Given that there's a ground lease, I would assume the terminal value to be zero (or some other number that's risk-adjusted for the possibility of renewal).
 
wabower said:
And those years have used up much of the value and opportunity arising from the ground lease. With a pre-negotiated extension, it might be worth a shot. Without it, it's a tough deal. But that's why it's on ebay.
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It may be worth noting that the guy you would be negotiating any lease extension with is also a pilot, aircraft owner, and all-around good guy.

I don't understand the problem with the concept of a lease. Even Wal-Mart doesn't usually own the land upon which their stores sit.

In many ways, not owning the property is advantageous. Right now, I've got both worlds (we own the property at our motel in Texas), and there are truly days when I wish I could call someone and say "Hey, this broke -- you need to fix it..." :wink2:
 
wabower said:
Understood, but one of the historic problems with aviation-related endeavors is that emotion somehow trumps business judgement.

I do business deals to make money and (now) fly airplanes for fun. So far I've been able to separate the motives and spend money accordingly. YMMV.
Click to expand...

If you're in business to make a lot of money, that's the best way to go.

If, on the other hand, you're in business because you enjoy what you do, a massive ROI becomes completely secondary.

I've owned four businesses. The first two were very profitable -- and I hated every minute. The last two have been mildly profitable -- and I've loved every minute. You know which I prefer...

In the end, it's about living and lifestyle, cuz you can't take the money with you -- and we're all gonna end up in the same place.
 
SCCutler said:
And it's worth noting- the Alexis Park has fed the Honeck's, and kept them in blue gas and airplane parts, for quite a while.
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Thus proving that for a non-pilot, the Alexis Park Inn would make a hefty profit and for a pilot it'll make only a small profit once the airplane is included. ;)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Thus proving that for a non-pilot, the Alexis Park Inn would make a hefty profit and for a pilot it'll make only a small profit once the airplane is included. ;)
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But what happens if no flight plan is filed? ;)
 
I'm with Bill. Without a renegotiated ground lease there is very little value left. Salvage value and discounted net revenues only. Sure, the lessor is a great guy, but I assume he's a businessman too and owes you nothing if someone else comes by with a better offer for the land. You can't put a dollar figure on "a good guy." Maybe you could negotiate a lease extension prior to auction's end, but....
 
I imagine it to be unlikely that anyone would end up buying the hotel in the auction, anyway... but they'd learn about it, and do their subsequent due-diligence and negotiation for a possible purchase. This would logically include determining whether, and upon what terms, and extension of the ground lease could be secured and confirmed.

I just bet (thinkin' out loud here...) the realty owner probably would prefer to have a locked-in lease by the operator of an established business, than to have a hotel back without any operator. If the land lord wanted to run a hotel, he would not have leased it out in the first place.

Just sayin'... it's not like Jay's selling a pig in a poke.
 
Hey, might be both...
 
Update: The Alexis Park Inn & Suites has sold to a nice young couple with no interest in aviation. They have grand plans for the place!

As a result, Mary and I have been able to retain nearly all of our hard-won aviation artwork and memorabilia. This unique collection took us eight years (and an unGodly amount of effort and money) to find and acquire -- enough to fill two 3-story buildings. We have since trucked it all to Mustang Island, where it is being incorporated into our new motel, currently known as the Harbor Inn.

This outstanding turn of events will accelerate our program here in Texas by at least a year, possibly two. (In the end, when complete we will be an aviation themed motel, re-branded as "Amelia's Landing" -- but that's still a ways out in the future!) We've already got two rooms done -- the Amelia Earhart and Red Baron -- with new ones rolling out regularly.

It's a great relief to have this behind us. As much as we have loved the Alexis Park Inn, and as badly as we wanted to be able to run both motels, it just proved too difficult to supervise people from 1300 miles away -- even WITH an airplane at our disposal. It will be nice to be able to concentrate our efforts solely on our new motel, for once.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas -- and a Happy New Year!
 
Congrats, Jay. Happy New Year, too.
 
Jay,

Glad to hear from you in general and this is good news! I'm unlikely to have ever made it to Iowa, but I just might make it to Mustang Island one of these days.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and wish you and Mary all the best in the new year.

John
 
You all have been BUSY!

Time to start planning our next trip to visit the even-better Honeck Hangout.
 
Jay, did you know the Air Race Classic begins in Iowa City this year? June 21-24.
 
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