Bankruptcy filing keeps St. Ignatius Hospital off trustee sale block

A trustee sale involving the alleged breakdown of payments on the 2017 sale of the former of St. Ignatius Hospital building and grounds did not happen Friday morning at the entrance to the courthouse after a representative from the trustee did not appear. Three members of the Colfax Chamber of Commerce were present to hear the outcome of the auction bid.

A representative of the Spokane law firm, Winston & Cashatt, Friday afternoon reported to the Gazette that sale of the St. Ignatius property was called off because the buyer of the building and grounds had filed for bankruptcy. Winston & Cashatt had scheduled the sale as trustee of the 2017 sale agreement between Anthony Girges, the former owner, and St. Ignatius Manor LLC of Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Elizabeth Tellessen, a specialist in real estate litigation with the Spokane law firm, had posted a legal advertisement notice of the public sale at the entrance to the courthouse at 10 a.m. Friday.

The trustees sale notice by Tellesen stated the buyer in the sale agreement owed a total of $107,452 in overdue payments, interest, fees and costs on the purchase agreement.

Colfax Chamber of Commerce members have had an interest in the pending trustees sale, which essentially shut down a series of Chamber “haunted hospital tours” scheduled at the former hospital.

Chamber executive Val Gregory said she first learned about the pending sale when she discovered a notice of the sale posted on the door of the St. Ignatius building. A spring tour series was shut down until the ownership status of the building could be determined.

The Chamber had reached an agreement last year with the purchaser to continue conducting tours and did so last year under an agreement with the buyer of the structure.

Gregory said she sent the buyer’s share of tour proceeds to a construction firm in Spokane. She noted the construction firm representative later cut off contact with the Chamber after a subsequent series of tours had been scheduled.

The printed legal notice in the Gazette contained a paragraph which allowed the buyer to restore the sale agreement with payment by May 21, but Gregory said as far as she knew, that deadline passed without any action.

She said Chamber members have worked to locate a buyer for the trustees sale, but were not successful.

The sale notice stated $90,000 was due on the principal of the sale plus interest and default interest of $11,177 and other costs and fees of $6,275.

A transfer tax affidavit filed with the county treasurer’s office June 3, 2017 after it was sold by Girges listed the sale price of St. Ignatius at $160,000.