Update (3/20/2012 5:00 P.M.)  Video of final bid and watching crowd added.

The Hilltop House Hotel, 400 Trinity Dr. now belongs to LANB. Courtesy photo

Staff Report

At a public auction a few minutes ago, Los Alamos National Bank entered a cash bid of $2.9 million for the Hilltop House Hotel, 400 Trinity Dr., which has been in foreclosure since last fall.

The special master handling the outdoor auction in front of the Justice Center in downtown Los Alamos announced that he had received the cash bid from the bank and asked if there were any other bidders.

Seeing none, he announced that the bank now owns the hotel.

Indications that the hotel was in trouble first surfaced last August when investors found out that managing partner Ron Selvage had put the hotel up for sale.

The hotel then failed to make its $26,000 monthly mortgage payments, spurring LANB to file foreclosure proceedings against the hotel in October.

Los Alamos businessman Roger Waterman and his family were the largest investors among a group of 17 who put money into purchasing the hotel for $4.8 million in 2005. An additional $600,000 also was raised.

It is expected that the hotel and attached gas station will be shut down in the next few days.

John Morse acted as the special master and led the auction. Watch the LANB bid as it is announced to a crowd of 22 people.