By Mike Sunnucks | Phoenix Business Journal
A San Diego hotel development group is lining up to buy the long-empty, historic Hotel Monroe building in downtown Phoenix for close to $8 million.
The Art Deco-style building at Central Avenue and Monroe Street has been empty for years with a number of previous suitors unable to come to close a deal.
A investment consortium from San Diego and Modus Development in Phoenix want to buy the building and redevelop it into a 150-room boutique hotel, said Mark Winkleman, COO of ML Manager LLC.
ML Manager is a receivership company formed after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of commercial lender Mortgages Limited. ML Manager has owned and has been trying to sell the 82-year-old Monroe building since foreclosing on Grace Communities in 2010.
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