Grand Heritage lost the dispute, but it is not a big deal, says Robert Simon, Grand Heritage's attorney, who returned a call GlobeSt.com placed to company chairman and founder John Cullen. Simon tells GlobeSt.com the decision made little difference because a statutory bond was posted for the disputed amount at the time of the sale. "There was an arm wrestling match over the bond," he says. "All that happened was the bonding agency had to pay" the disputed amount.

The sale to Grand Heritage, which closed Dec. 23 for $14.72 million, ended years of acrimonious ownership between a group led by locally based developer Paul Brenneke and his California-based partners in the asset. Brenneke won the state partnership litigation case last year but his partners went against a judge's orders and filed for bankruptcy protection the same day, thereby stifling Brenneke's ability to take back control of the asset.

Brenneke eventually gained back that control with the help of Cullen. The bankruptcy process was completed in September. When it was over, Brenneke's former partners were out and a group led by Cullen was Brenneke's new 50% partner and hotel operator. Brenneke tells GlobeSt.com he decided to sell to Cullen and partners the whole property in part to focus on Second + Pine, a luxury hotel and condo tower he is developing in Downtown Seattle in partnership with Starwood Capital Global.

Simon says the greatest lesson to be learned from the state partnership litigation over control of the Avalon is that all partners in a joint venture should make sure that a bankruptcy filing requires a unanimous vote of all the partners. "Without that provision, Brenneke was subjected to the wiles of his partners despite being the guarantor of the debt" on the property.

Meanwhile, Brenneke and Simon were scratching their heads this week after PKF Capital Markets Group issued a press release over PRNewswire claiming it had just brokered the sale of the hotel. Both Simon and Brenneke say PKF Capital Markets did not broker the deal and had no involvement.

PKF Capital Markets SVP John Keeling tells GlobeSt.com that the press release should have stated the name of the broker, Patrick Bajdek, who brought the deal with him when he came to work at PKF as a director. Bajdek tells GlobeSt.com he brought to Grand Heritage both the Governor and Avalon hotel deals and should have been paid a commission but was not. Brenneke and Simon say they have no knowledge of Bajdek being involved in either transaction. Cullen did not return a phone call seeking comment.