Editor’s Note: A version of this story was first published on TampaBay.com.
The future of the Red Rose Inn & Suites was locked away Aug. 16, in a tiny room off the auction’s center stage, at the Lakeland Center. With the exception of a tiny sliver of light, curious bystanders couldn’t catch a glimpse of the vacant hotel’s winning bidder.
If he or she was even inside.
And even after the auction winners inside the room emerged, the fate of the Red Rose — the longtime crown jewel of Plant City — remains uncertain.
At the auction, Sean Strano hovered outside the room, his business cards in hand. Like everyone else packed in the hallway, he wanted to know who bought the 222-room Red Rose, mistakenly called the “Landmark of Lakeland” by the auctioneer.
The Red Rose’s frenzied bidding — opening with a $1 million bid — had heads turning at the packed auction. Plant City residents John Helton and Shafiq Chaudhry were two of several bidders.
A Walden Lake resident, Chaudhry was a neighbor of the Madonias.
“They are very good people,” Chaudhry said. “With everything that happened with their daughter, it’s hard. God bless them.”
Bidder 348 won with a bid of $2.1 million. It was $100,000 less than the Madonias paid in 2002, not to mention the $4 million they spent in renovations.
But who was bidder 348?
Strano owns a landscape management company and hoped to be the one to clean up the Red Rose for the new owner. A blond woman walked out of the room.
“Did you find out anything?” Strano asked her.
“It was some company out of Minnesota,” said Donna Jean Crocker, a Realtor representing Plant City clients. She bid $2 million for the Red Rose on their behalf.
Murray Wise Associates handled the auction, and spokesman Carl Carter revealed the winning bid was not accepted — but not rejected — by the bankruptcy court-appointed trustee Jerry McHale.
The bid has been taken under advisement by the court. It’s up to the judge whether it will be accepted. There is no timeline when the decision that affects the bid’s fate will be made. It could take weeks.
“Most likely, they’ll have to continue to find a buyer if it’s not accepted,” Carter said.
He added it was unlikely to go up on the auction block again.
It did not appear the Madonia family was present for the auction. The youngest son, Batista Madonia Jr., said before the Aug. 16 auction he was upset with the low bids being accepted. He and his family never wanted to liquidate. He said they filed for Chapter 11, because they wanted to reorganize, to sell some assets, pay creditors and keep working. He feels like the case has been hijacked out from under them.
“I don’t think there has ever been (a bankruptcy case) done this quickly,” Madonia said.
He said his parents, now in their 70s, left their home state of Pennsylvania decades ago with $1,020 to their names, believing in the sunshine hope that Florida would be their path to the American dream. He and his siblings grew up at their packing plant in Mulberry, with his mother cooking them lunch and dinner in a little on-site kitchen. He said his parents never took a vacation and reinvested what they made into the business. He said they didn’t live extravagantly.
“We are a good family,” he said.
Madonia said when his sister, Laurie, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, everyone took a step back from the business to care for her and search for a cure, taking her everywhere from Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, to the Vatican. She died last year. Her illness, coupled with bad harvest seasons from freezes, a hurricane and a battle with cheap Mexican tomatoes, led to their financial difficulties, Madonia said.
His parents are crushed.
“They struggle every day,” Madonia said. Losing Laurie, he said, devastated them.
Madonia said they want to farm again and will continue to fight what they can in court.
The auction featuring the Red Rose was the second of a series of auctions that put Evelyn and Batista Madonia’s properties and assets up for sale. The owners of East Coast Brokers and Packers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March. The exact figure of what they owe to creditors is at least $100 million.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of farming equipment and 7,377 acres in 17 properties that included packing facilities, labor housing and commercial lots were auctioned off Aug. 15.
OTHER SALES
The Aug. 16 auction brought a total of $3.73 million, including the bid for the Red Rose.
The eight blocks included a Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard warehouse, a Naples condo with ocean views, a convenience store, two homes — one near the State Road 60 and County Line Road and the other in Lakeland — two Walden Lake lots and the Red Rose.
Vice Mayor Rick Lott snapped up the two Walden Lake lots on Polo Place. With a combined area of 2.24 acres, Lott paid $120,000 each.
Lott said he bought the lots for his children — whenever they decide to return to Plant City in the future.
Lott also bid on the MLK warehouse but stopped shy of winning.
Although Chaudhry didn’t snag the Red Rose, he purchased the Lakeland home at 1210 Lake Point Terrace, in Lakeland, as well as eight acres off State Road 60 the day before.
“I got some good bargains,” Chaudhry said. “Whenever I come here, we just pray. I always walk out happy.”
Also in the crowd was Don Walden. But, he didn’t bid on anything.
“I was interested as a curiosity,” Walden said. “I thought they did well. It seemed like, property-wise, they did well.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com or Tampa Bay Times reporter Erin Sullivan at esullivan@tampabay.com.
WINNING BIDS
1. Lake Point Terrace House
3,360 square feet
Lake Point Terrace, Lakeland
Sold for $150,000
2. Red Rose Inn & Suites
8.49 acres near Interstate 4, Plant City
Pending sale for $2.1 million
3. Walden Lake Lot 6
2.23 acres
Polo Place
Sold for $120,000
4. Walden Lake Lot 7
2.01 acres
Polo Place
Sold for $120,000
5. Primas Store
.92 acres
6980 State Road 60 W., Mulberry
Sold in package with No. 6 for $600,000
6. Yellow Brick House
2,605 square feet
4011 S.R. 60, Plant City
Sold in package with #5 for $600,000
7. Warehouse
.55 acres
1002 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Plant City
Sold for $180,000
8. Condo
Two bedrooms, two baths
6000 Pelican Bay Blvd. Unit C-1402, Naples
Sold for $390,000