Inn of Gallup snared in dispute

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — The Inn of Gallup — formerly known as the Holiday Inn — is closed.

The Navajo Nation did not buy it.

Previous owner Hans Pircher doesn’t live here anymore.

The building is empty and the lights are off.

City Attorney Dave Pederson said the foreclosure of the Inn of Gallup was being “reanimated.”

The lease owner Amresco Co., which is a financing arm of Wells Fargo, holds the lease on the building, Pederson said.

“Everyone was hoping the sale to the tribe would go through,” he said and added there was some unpaid lodgers tax, some utilities were owed that were brought current, and he believed, but wasn’t sure that some money was owed to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.

Pederson said in a telephone interview that many things caused a delay in selling the building and the business including a judgment that was entered, but then amended. Then the Navajo Nation Council approved the purchase, but it was vetoed by Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. The Council tried to override the veto, but was unsuccessful. So the purchase collapsed. Pederson said he never heard any reason why Shirley vetoed the purchase.

Pederson says it is likely the debtor will try to find a purchaser or refinance the debt. He was not sure about the liquor license, he said and needed to see if the license was pledged with the land and building in the sale. He thinks the liquor license is “in suspension,” a decision that can be done voluntarily by the owner.

The rumor going around town is that Pircher was planning to sue the Navajo Nation for breach of contract.

Pederson said he hadn’t heard anything about suing the tribe. “When you start talking about suing a sovereign Indian tribe it gets very complicated,” he said. “Where do you sue them? In tribal court? It’s almost impossible to take them to state court.”

Pederson said he wasn’t sure how the buying and selling of the Inn of Gallup would end. “I do know it’s a loss for the community and it’s kind of sad to see the business not be available for use. We lose all kinds of jobs and the facility.”