The saga of the Calumet Inn ownership continues.
A notice of a mortgage foreclosure sale obtained from Bernick, Lifson, Greenstein, Greene & Liszt, P.A. dated Dec. 8, and confirmed by the county Recorder’s office, states that TESA LLC has defaulted on the mortgage for the Calumet Inn through Security State Bank of Fergus Falls.
Shani Christopher and Todd Griepentrog are TESA LLC.
The document further states that the mortgage will be foreclosed and the mortgaged premises will be sold by the Sheriff of Pipestone County at public auction on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 at 10 a.m. The auction will take place at the front door of the Sheriff’s main office at the Law Enforcement Center at 416 South Hiawatha Ave.
The saga began in early October when Christopher said she had sold the Calumet to Steve Klinkhammer, of Marshall. At that time, the building had been on the market for about six to eight months, she said. A listing on the Real Estate Retrievers Web site showed an asking price of $1.8 million for the 38-room hotel.
Christopher said she decided to sell the local landmark in order to spend more time with her children.
Further investigation revealed that the building had not been sold, but that an agreement had been reached between Christopher and the Klinkhammer family whereby the operations of the Calumet had been turned over to the Klinkhammers.
In a prepared statement issued in early November Klinkhammer said, “The present owner, TESA, Inc. LLC, owned by Shani Christopher and Todd Griepentrog, has released the operation of the Calumet restaurant, bar and hotel to the Klinkhammer family, who were the former owners.”
At that time Klinkhammer said he and his wife Colleen intended to keep the property running and that rumors of the building going into receivership were not true. He said it was a private agreement between he and Christopher and that the agreement was not forced by the bank.
Klinkhammer said last week he could not comment on the recent foreclosure notice.
“We’re currently operating it for Security State Bank,” he said.
As far as the possible sale by auction, Klinkhammer said only, “Colleen and I do plan to take ownership of the Calumet Inn and restore it to its old glory.”
The Klinkhammers had begun investing in the building since they took over operations in October by making repairs and taking on a few remodeling projects in some of the rooms. Klinkhammer said the Calumet will remain open and that they plan to expand the dining room hours in the near future.
Christopher could not be reached for comment.
