3 Tropical Inns in Puerto Rico close due to loan portfolio sale, owner says
Owner Juan López blames the loan portfolio sale to Condado 6 for the closures, citing government corruption and job losses.
Three Tropical Inns Puerto Rico paradores have shut down, citing “the controversial” 2017 sale of the Puerto Rico Economic Development Bank’s (EDB, in Spanish) loan portfolio, according to small inns owner Juan López. He said former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and former EDB President Luis Burdiel orchestrated the sale, causing hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to lose their businesses and properties.
López said the closures, following more than seven years of litigation, will significantly impact the island’s eastern region, with more than 54 direct jobs lost in an area with Puerto Rico’s highest unemployment rate. Tourism in Yabucoa “is directly and dramatically affected,” he noted, as the municipality loses its only 75 rooms endorsed by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC).
López said: “Without a doubt we have been victims of government corruption in the country. These portfolios should never have been sold … this was something planned and orchestrated to give the ‘vulture funds’ one of the most important lines of our economy … the small and medium-sized merchants.
“They knew that once they handed us over to the vulture funds, we would never get out of them … They bought the loan portfolio without holding an auction, between 29 [cents] and 34 cents on the dollar, when [I] was already negotiating with the EDB and had offered them 54 cents on the dollar. Even so, they were sold to them in a completely illegal act, to such an extent that Mr. Burdiel pleaded guilty….”
López explained that his loans totaled $2.9 million, backed by a mortgage worth more than double that amount. The loan portfolio was sold to Condado 6 LLC for less than $1 million. Despite offering $2.5 million in 2023 to buy back the loans — representing a 150% profit for the investors — the offer was rejected.
“Since this transaction was carried out, many businessmen have lost everything,” López said.
The Tropical Inns chain, established in 1996, included five properties: Palmas de Lucía (1996), Costa del Mar (2001), Guánica 1929 (2005), MaunaCaribe (2009) and Lucía Beach (2015).
López also announced that all reservations at Palmas de Lucía and Hotel Lucía Beach will be transferred to Parador MaunaCaribe in Maunabo, which remains open.
Excellent work María Miranda. This announcement is very sad. This should never happen and those people involved in this tremendous tragedy should be exposed publicly and demanded solution.