Save Hotel Baker |
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This blog is regarding the plight of the spectacular and historic Hotel Baker in Saint Charles, IL that is in serious trouble because the owners went bankrupt.  St. Charles Public Library - Hotel Baker History E-mail me **!! Sealed Auction Information site - bids due July 22nd 2003 !!** City of St. Charles website City of Geneva website Hotel Baker iPix Tours AIA Chicago 1998 design awards page AIA Chicago 2000 design awards page *PING* Archives 
Other weBlogs by Daniel Stafford: The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal *Spell Book* Affirmation Station Remembering Mom Save Hotel Baker Uncle Harold's Farm |
Saturday, January 11, 2003
Melody, FYI to you on something developing below. I will forward anything further I receive from this person as a matter of course. My wife Saren & I both think it would be a good idea if we could meet with you and your husband for an early dinner on a weekend in the near future. Saren has run her own business for 25 years, so she may have some input once she familiarizes herself with where things stand. At this point I am mostly interested in getting to know the two of you and possibly some brainstorming, nothing formal. Actually, casual and quiet would be best. I'm copying Saren on this as she is better at keeping up with our social schedule on the weekends and I'd want any times / date possibilities run by her if you and your husband are interested in meeting us. Please let me know what you think. Thanks, Dan Dan Stafford wrote: Have you read the weblog? Basically I'm working with a gal at Easter Seals trying to set up a non-profit to aquire and preserve the hotel. I am an hourly paid technician with minimal business skills who is trying to figure out how to accomplish this with very limited resources from scratch. My associate, Melody, has experience with fund raising for non-profit organizations. Everything we know or have done to date is logged at: http://www.whizzyrds.com/Baker_blog.html The weblog is an accurate and complete record of what we've done and where things stand. We will need a third person at a minimum to serve on a board of directors to incorporate in Illinois. My preference would be to keep everything as local as possible. There are people in my aquaintance that I'm interested in running this by as yet, but it's very early on in the conception from my perspective. Dan Charles K wrote: The interest is in saving the hotel,and as an investment. Dan Stafford wrote: What would you like to know? What is your interest? Thanks, Dan Charles K wrote: Please contact me about the hotel and its present position. Friday, January 10, 2003
Melody, As to financial resources, we are both in the same position. I am an hourly employee at XXXXXXXX. (technician, and lucky to still have work considering their recent history) I might be able to fund small things here or there, but not personally on the scale we're talking about at this point in time. I'm not expecting anything such from you, either. To may way of thinking, the major hurdle is getting a qualified third person to serve on a board and getting incorporated at this point. I would assume that being incorporated as a non-profit will be a requirement for most or all of the grants you've mentioned. I have been thinking of trying to fund the incorporation through the school program I found myself if possible. If I did, I couldn't pay for it until late March at the earliest with my current financial picture. I had thought I could do that as a loan to the corporation if I can swing it. As far as direction for the hotel, I think first we would need to get a small museum in operation in one of the ground floor banquet rooms, followed immediately by hostelry in a limited number of the rooms to generate a revenue stream to keep us afloat. I'd want to keep one full floor unused until we decide on the executive apartment idea you had. I'll go more into detail later, my computer is giving me fits chopping off half the characters I type so I have to keep retyping. (Time to re-boot) I would really like to do a combination of all five of the ideas we've previously mentioned in the end. As far as purchase, I'm hoping we could get enought grant money and donations to purchase the hotel outright and begin operations if we can get past incorporation. One of the things I would like to hear from you on is the terms and condition and potential amounts of the grants you mentioned. Right now, am operating totally on guesswork regarding the financial potential involved and what it's possible to get grants for as far as purpose. I need to have a clearer picture of that to develope a plan. Enough typing on this already! It was nice to talk to you for a minute, even if you were surprised! *Grin* Dan Melody Felton wrote: Dan, Have you decided on any direction you want to take with this endeavor? I am very interested, but I can tell you right off the bat that I have no other assets I could contribute other than hard work. I do have some knowledge of not for profit business. If you could develop a plan for the hotel baker what would you do about the purchase price? Melody Felton Melody, I am running this by a family member that is a real estate attourney in the next couple of weeks to their thoughts, will let you know how that goes. Thanks again, Dan Spoke to Melody briefly, just status update and a "thank you" for stepping up and getting a little involved. Called and left a message for Mr. Kusper requesting either information on pricing for Hotel Baker or whom to contact at LaSalle Bank regarding the matter. Going to give Melody a call... |
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