Iron Horse Legal Dispute Ends With Lender Taking Over
Hotel continues to operate, now with new owner.
The Iron Horse Hotel in 2021. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
The long-running legal dispute over the financial health of one of Milwaukee’s premier hotels appears to have been resolved.
The Iron Horse Hotel was acquired by its lender during a sheriff’s sale.
The 100-room hotel, 500 W. Florida St., and its now-former owner Tim Dixon have faced a foreclosure suit since 2021.
The hotel, according to court records, is now the property of RSS GSMS2015-GC28-WI RH, LLC. The investment group, an affiliate of Miami-based Rialto Capital, was the lone bidder.
Judge Paul Van Grunsven approved the sale Monday. The $15.75 million transaction is to reduce the $28 million debt burden associated with the property.
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 the loan back into good standing by February 2025.
However, court documents indicate that the loan was not refinanced, and in March, Rialto reactivated the foreclosure case, requesting that a receiver take over the hotel’s operations. A receiver, Crescent Hotels and Resorts, was approved by Judge David L. Borowski in April. The foreclosure was granted in June. The hotel has continued to operate without interruption.
Dixon, according to the bankruptcy records, was 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 sale was first reported by Hunter Turpin.
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