PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Graduate hotel in downtown Providence, still known to most Rhode Islanders as the Biltmore, is set to be sold at auction in January after its owners fell behind on more than $36 million in debt.
A legal notice filed under the Uniform Commercial Code says ACORE Capital Mortgage, acting as agent for a group of mezzanine lenders, will offer the ownership interest at a public auction at 1:50 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2027. The sale is set to take place in front of the New York County Courthouse in New York City.
The hotel at 11 Dorrance Street carries a first mortgage that started at about $43.2 million. As of Sept. 1, the unpaid principal stood at $36,348,298, according to the notice.
Providence is not the only property involved. A hotel in Cincinnati is being offered as well, since both buildings served as collateral for loans to the company that owns them. The Cincinnati hotel has its own first mortgage, with about $21.95 million in principal still owed as of Sept. 1.
Chicago-based AJ Capital Partners bought the downtown landmark and rebranded it as the Graduate in 2019, though the red Biltmore sign on the roof stayed in place. AJ Capital later sold the Graduate Hotels brand to Hilton for $210 million while keeping ownership of the buildings, which now operate under Hilton franchise agreements. The firm did not respond to a request for comment on the auction.
The Biltmore opened in 1922 and has been one of the best-known buildings in the city skyline for more than a century.
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