FORT MILL, S. C. -- The Heritage Grand Hotel, built by Jim Bakker at PTL to provide lifetime accommodations to ministry donors, is closing its doors for good.
PTL bankruptcy trustee M.C. 'Red' Benton said Monday he made the decision to close the 500-room hotel at the Heritage USA religious theme park because of poor business and loss of revenues.
'It will not be reopened unless there is some big miracle,' said the court-appointed official. 'It's a big loser. We just can't afford to keep it open.'
Hurricane Hugo hastened the hotel's closing as it lost power and telephone service Friday, Benton said, but that was not the deciding factor.
'I had planned on closing the hotel at the end of the month anyway,' he said. 'Hurricane Hugo just made the decision for us a week early.'
Benton said he will shut down all PTL operations not turning a profit, including the Heritage Island Waterpark, which closed for the season on Labor Day.
Benton said he discussed closing the hotel Thursday with Bruce French, Heritage USA's marketing director, and Jerald Long, its chief operating officer, following Canadian businessman Stephen Mernick's decision to withdraw his offer to buy PTL assets the previous day.
'When Mr. Mernick dropped out, I had no other choice but to start getting the hotel closed,' Benton said. 'If we had somebody picking up the ministry's shortfall, it would be different.'
The hotel, which employed about 90 people, has had only an 8 percent to 10 percent occupancy rate during the past several weeks, Benton said.
PTL creditors have asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbia to foreclose on heavily mortgaged properties that the ministry used for collateral on loans, Benton said. That includes the uncompleted Towers hotel Bakker planned to provide accommodations for lifetime partners, or donors who were promised three days a year for life at a Heritage USA hotel for contributions of $1,000.
A hearing on the creditors' motions is scheduled Wednesday before Bankruptcy Judge Thurmond Bishop.
Mernick dropped out after he failed to get the necessary title insurance to complete the $65 million transaction by Sept. 30. The obstacle was the Catawba Indian claim to land in York County, a dispute now tied up in federal court.
Bakker is currently on trial in U.S. District Court in Charlotte on charges that he defrauded the lifetime partners, using thousands of dollars they donated to give himself, his wife and other PTL officials huge bonuses.
