Investors eye reviving the Sunset Villa Hotel

Two prospective investors are eyeing the now dilapidated Sunset Villa Hotel on Rota with offers that could revive it, officials with the Commonwealth Development Authority and one of the interested buyers said during a conference Tuesday.

CDA foreclosed the Sunset Villa, a 14-room beachfront hotel complete with six cottages and several deluxe suites, in 2000 and paid $990,000 for the property. CDA later installed a company, La Paloma, to run the hotel on a 55-year lease but it later pulled out of the deal and a second bidder did the same.

Now one of the hotel’s previous owners, Rep. Victor Hocog (I-Rota), has revealed he is crafting a proposal to resume control over it with the aid of CDA officials.

“I cannot stomach driving back and forth on Rota and seeing that hotel being badly dilapidated,” Hocog said in an interview after CDA’s monthly board meeting, adding that he hopes to reopen the hotel. “So I’ve come back to see if I can help to put it back together and help CDA recoup its costs.”

Hocog plans to present a proposal to CDA next month, he said, once he and the agency finish talks on the deal and the hotel’s price tag.

Meanwhile, CDA executive director Oscar Camacho said in the meeting that a Japanese investor has presented a $300,000 offer for the property in an e-mail sent to the agency. Camacho stopped short of identifying the prospective buyer, but noted that the initial offer is far less than the price CDA has in mind.

“We think it’s too low but we do need to respond,” Camacho told the CDA board, adding that the agency wants a minimum bid of $750,000, a figure based on a 2005 appraisal.

Nevertheless, CDA board members suggested the agency should consider a counter offer, with some suggesting $500,000 could be enough, given how long the property has sat vacant.

“The situation right now is very bleak,” CDA board chair Pedro Itibus said. “To let this property sit there idly won’t make any more profit for CDA.”

CDA board members voiced concerns the building could fall victim to vandalism given the recent economic downturn in the Commonwealth, a factor that adds to the urgency of finding a new owner to manage the site. In addition, the value of the property is somewhat in doubt after CDA staff revealed that an assessment of the hotel suggests it could need up to $200,000 worth of renovations.