LR hotel closes over delinquent taxes

The Hotel Frederica, the Little Rock inn best known years ago as the Hotel Sam Peck and, more recently, as the Legacy Hotel, was closed Friday for failing to pay state sales taxes.

Scott Hardin, spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said the agency ordered the closing on Friday, more than a month after the hotel’s owners were first served with a notice of closure on Aug. 2.

“We make every effort to work with the taxpayer and reach an agreement to allow a business to remain open,” Hardin said. “That’s why you see a gap between a notice and actual closure.”

The amount of sales tax not paid is confidential, Hardin said.

The department’s website listing businesses that have been closed for nonpayment of taxes has the Frederica tax case under a prior name, Legacy Hotel and Suites.

Hardin also said that, because of confidentiality requirements under Arkansas law, he couldn’t give a timeline for the nonpayment period.

The interior of the hotel, including its lobby and an area that once housed a restaurant, was dark Friday afternoon, and state closure signs were posted around the entrances to the hotel at 625 W. Capitol Ave. No one answered phone calls made to the hotel’s main telephone number.

The hotel’s website on Friday said it was booked up for the weekend, but no customers — current or prospective — were in the hotel’s parking lot late Friday afternoon.

By text message Friday evening, General Manager Kishan Patel said: “We fell behind on paying taxes. Until we can pay them in full we will have to be closed. We are continuing to help all future guests find other accommodations.”

The 105-year-old hotel is Little Rock’s second-oldest after the Capital Hotel.

The hotel was sold three years ago for $2.85 million and underwent a $2 million renovation.

The new owners, operating as Starlight Hospitality Group, signed up with Ascend Collections, the “boutique” brand of Choice Hotels International.

A spokesman for the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau said Friday that the agency wasn’t aware of the closing and hadn’t been contacted by the state or by any visitors who had reservations at the Frederica.