The Roanoke Times | File September

The Patrick Henry Hotel on Jefferson Street in Roanoke has experienced financial setbacks over the past few years.

The New York company that owns a historic hotel in downtown Roanoke filed for bankruptcy this week.

Affirmative Equities, owner of the Patrick Henry Hotel, owes creditors between $1 million and $100 million, according to bankruptcy documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York. The company has between one and 49 creditors, ac-cording to the documents.

The creditors include Roanoke. Affirmative Equities owes the city more than a year's worth of taxes.

It's unclear how the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing will affect its plans to restore the Patrick Henry, once a lodging gem that has fallen into disrepair. Renovation plans at the hotel have stalled for more than a year.

And Affirmative Equities has not paid the city $80,952 in taxes, said Dana Long, manager of Roanoke's billings and collections department.

Andrew Jubelt, president of Affirmative Equities, did not return a call for comment on Thursday.

Bill Carder, executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc., said the filing gives the company "time to go to the court to file a plan."

"We want to see the property renovated and be brought back to life," said Carder, who was general manager of the hotel for 11 years before leaving for another position in 2003.

Affirmative Equities owns the Patrick Henry through a limited partnership, Patrick Henry Hotel Associates. Affirmative Equities bought the hotel for $3 million in 1990, with plans to convert the property on South Jefferson Street, opened in 1925, into senior housing. Those plans have not materialized.

Financial troubles, including unpaid federal taxes, have haunted Jubelt's company in the past.

The bankruptcy filing likely would make the Patrick Henry ineligible for a tax sale. Before the filing, if the hotel's taxes had remained unpaid on Dec. 31, the property would have been eligible for a city tax sale, paving the way for a new investor to take over.

But a tax sale would not happen if the hotel's delinquent taxes are paid to Roanoke through the bankruptcy process, said Bill Hackworth, city attorney.

The Patrick Henry sits on a downtown Roanoke corridor that city officials hope to revitalize. The area once was a retail hub, lined with stores and businesses.

Signals of renewal on Jefferson Street have blossomed. Across the street from the Patrick Henry, a new regional office building for the Social Security Administration is under construction. This year, longtime menswear shop Davidsons Clothing for Men unveiled a renovated retail space and upper level condominiums.

The Patrick Henry "is a cornerstone of that redevelopment effort," said Brian Brown, the city's economic development administrator.