NORMAL - The owner of the proposed Crowne Plaza hotel in north Normal has secured private financing for the project but now faces foreclosure on another Normal hotel.

Devang Patel owes more than $3.2 million to Greenwich Capital Financial Products for the mortgage on Days Inn, 202 Landmark Drive, according to court documents. With late and default charges added, the total amount owed is more than $3.4 million.

A foreclosure sale is set for 10 a.m. March 10 in the lobby of the McLean County Law and Justice Center.

In addition, McLean County Treasurer Rebecca McNeil said Patel failed to pay 2007 property taxes on the three-story, 128-room hotel. The taxes were sold to Hickory Point Bank at the annual tax sale in November, she said.

The property will not have a clear title until that money, and any interest, is repaid, McNeil said. Property owners have three years to pay off or "redeem" their taxes. If still not paid in three years, the tax buyer can attempt to take the property through court proceedings.

Patel did not return phone messages but in a letter included in court documents Patel said he recently traveled to India to secure private financing to cover the amount owed. The letter, received by the court on Jan. 29, indicated Patel would not be able to return by Jan. 29 as planned because the person providing the financing had to be hospitalized.

Meanwhile, Fred Rotermund, vice president of Global Hotel Management, the company that plays a management role in Days Inn and also will manage the proposed Crowne Plaza hotel, said Patel has secured private financing for the Crowne Plaza.

The money is expected to be available so that work can restart after March 1, Rotermund said. A June 1 opening is expected.

The Crowne Plaza project initially was to receive about $2 million in tax increment financing money through the town. The City Council approved a redevelopment agreement with Patel in December 2007. A TIF district for the site at 8 Traders Circle was approved by the council a short time after.

The pact was mutually terminated on Feb. 16 after Patel's company, Normal Hospitality LLC, could not give the town documents proving all workers on the renovation project had been paid prevailing wage. Normal requires the state-determined wage be paid on any projects receiving public funding.

According to the redevelopment agreement, Normal Hospitality planned to spend $5.8 million renovating the site of the former Staywood Inn. That hotel was foreclosed in 2006 and purchased by mortgage holder Marine Bank of Springfield.

Patel purchased the property for $3.2 million.

The 30-plus-year-old building had extensive water damage because of a bad roof and had sat vacant for more than a year. It also needed a new sprinkler system, air conditioning, furnace, wall and floor coverings and a new kitchen.