Iron Horse Hotel Faces Sheriff’s Auction
Judgment awarded by court in multi-year foreclosure case.
The Iron Horse Hotel in 2021. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
One of Milwaukee’s premier hotels could be headed to the auction block.
Following a foreclosure judgment granted earlier this month by Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David L. Borowski, The Iron Horse Hotel could be sold via a sheriff’s auction.
The 100-room hotel, 500 W. Florida St., and its owner Tim Dixon have faced a foreclosure suit since 2021.
A 2022 Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which Dixon attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and long-standing financial issues, was supposed to reset the table. After a 2023 auction failed to bring in a bid of more than the $24 million, Dixon agreed to bring a loan back into good standing by February, as part of the bankruptcy case which was closed in October.
But court documents indicate the loan was not refinanced and, in March, Miami-based loan servicer Rialto Capital reactivated the foreclosure case and requested a receiver take over the hotel’s operations. A receiver, Crescent Hotels and Resorts, was approved by Borowski in April.
Borowski, court records indicate, posted the foreclosure judgment on Monday.
A sheriff’s auction has yet to be scheduled.
The loan is held by an entity listed in court documents as RSS. Dixon, which, according to the bankruptcy records, was previously negotiating with GS Mortgage Securities Corporation II, an entity created by Goldman Sachs to hold investments in several mortgages.
The hotel opened in 2008. Its name, at least initially, was a reference to the railroad tracks that border it, but the moniker has evolved to reference to the nearby Harley-Davidson Museum and its frequent guests: motorcycle riders. The Iron Horse has three public-facing restaurants and bars: Branded, Ash Heart and Bar and The Yard.
The six-story hotel occupies a redeveloped warehouse that was originally built in 1907. It is located at the northern edge of Walker’s Point.
News of the auction was first reported by Hunter Turpin
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