City says no cap on bid for Hotel Topeka

Editor's note: The original article indicated the city council had placed a cap of $8 million on the purchase of the hotel. A spokeswoman said the city council approved the use of $8 million in bonds to reimburse the purchase of the hotel, but it did not set a restriction on how much can be bid on the hotel.

TOPEKA (KSNT) - The City of Topeka plans to further discuss purchasing Hotel Topeka at Tuesday night's council meeting. Documents obtained by KSNT 27 News show city council members have approved the use of $8 million in bonds to purchase the hotel, though the city said that is not intended to be a cap on how much it can spend.

"The city cannot spend money it does not have on hand," said Gretchen Spiker, city spokeswoman. "While the city can reimburse itself later with bonds which was the purpose of the Resolution the city has options in what funds it can use to purchase the hotel such as general fund reserves and other unrestricted city funds or using a combination."

The city intends to bid and possibly purchase Hotel Topeka. Last week, the governing body held a surprise virtual meeting, where it voted and approved engaging in the online auction hosted by Ten-X.

The online auction began Monday, June 6 with a starting bid of $2 million, according to Ten-X's website. As of Tuesday afternoon, the bidding sat at $3.5 million but has not yet hit the reserve amount for the hotel to sell. The auction will conclude at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Hotel Topeka has been under court-appointed receivership since June 2021, according to the website, ultimately leading to its auction.

Spiker previously said if the purchase of the hotel is successful, private partners and industry experts will decide how to best redevelop the property. The building’s appraised value decreased dramatically from 2022 to 2023, according to the Shawnee County appraiser’s website.