Barkers acquire Kingsley Inn building

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - The financial group that took over the old Lee County Bank building and the Cattermole Library building have made another investment in downtown Fort Madison.

Barker Financial group closed on the former Kingsley Inn building about a week ago, according to Fort Madison Partners Executive Director Tim Gobble and Barker Financial CFO Kyle Galloway.

"They took the keys just over a week ago after negotiating with Lee County Bank who held the property," Gobble said Monday afternoon.

Workers from Schickedanz Construction, who also are partnering with Barkers on the upper floor apartments at the old Lee County Bank and Cattermole library buildings, are currently doing some renovation and updates to the former hotel located on the corner of Avenue H and 7th Street in Fort Madison.

Gobble said the Barker Group will be taking a different marketing tact and using Airbnb marketing, an accommodation vehicle that is becoming popular when traveling. Gobble said he made a comment to the the group when they were here with the governor for a ribbon cutting of the old Lee County Bank building and tours of that building and the former Cattermole Library building.

"They said 'that's not a horrible idea, and they chatted about it. I think their CFO may have toured the building and I think the Barkers may have toured that building when they were down for the ribbon-cutting," Gobble said.

He said the acquisition has been in place for sometime. Lee County Bank held the note on the building after the previous owner, Jeff Mackenzie, let it fall back to the bank when the hotel ceased operations in the early part of 2018.

Galloway confirmed the purchase this afternoon and said it's outside of Barkers' typical business model.

"We're normally not in the hotel/restaurant business. It's not what we do. We're an apartment and condominium company," Galloway said.

"But I like the downtown vibe and the walkability of Fort Madison, and we already have a significant investment in the city so we made the decision to take over that space. You can't let old buildings like that sit for too long, so we decided to pull the trigger."

Schickedanz Construction crews have been on the property working on some upgrades and repairs, but Galloway said the building was in decent shape and won't require a lot of rehabilitation.

"There's some work that needs to be done on the roof and some plexiglass that needs to be replaced, but other than that, the rooms are in pretty good shape so we won't be doing a whole lot with that."

He said it's hard separating the restaurant space from the hotel, but the company couldn't really take one without the other. So they will be looking at finding someone to come back in and open the restaurant on the first level. But the apartments will be marketed through Airbnb, which is a peer-to-peer rental marketing used to secure lodgings when traveling.

Galloway said, although it was different take on what Barker normally does, the company was going to give it a shot.

"We're gonna try something here and if it doesn't work we'll try something else," he said.

They said the hotel, with between 14 to 18 rooms, is a little small for a typical hotel footprint, so the Airbnb model may fit.

Gobble said there weren't any economic incentives in the purchase, it was just some diligence on the part of Barkers and then a negotiation with Lee County Bank on a purchase price.

He said Chi Easton has been hired to manage the property and has been working at the location to get it up and running as soon as possible.

"She's anxiously trying to get things cleaned up," Gobble said. "They want to be a location on the Wine Walk."

acquisition, Airbnb, Barker Financial, fort madison, fort madison partners, hotel, Kingsley Inn, Pen City Current

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