UPDATE 1/6/25: According to the Chemung County Sheriff's Office, the property auction scheduled for January 7th has been canceled. 

According to an assistant attorney for the county, the property's owner has filed for bankruptcy protection. 

HORSEHEADS, NY (WENY) -- A hotel with a tumultuous history is going up on the auction block.

According to a Notice of Sale, the Best Western Plus at 2671 Corning Road in Horseheads is going up for a Sheriff's Sale on January 7th to the highest bidder. The auction will be held at the Chemung County Sheriff's Office in Elmira at 10:30 AM. 

A Sheriff's Sale is a public auction when a property has been seized and is to be sold due to a court order. 

The hotel is owned by Finger Lake, LLC. The LLC and its owner, Tom Shen, has been taken to court by multiple contractors during the hotel's construction, over alleged non-payment. He also faced a case in Chemung County court in 2019, accused of accepting half a million dollars from a foreign investor in exchange for a green card, through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Two other cases involving Finger Lake, LLC are currently active in Chemung County Supreme court.

Construction on the hotel began in 2017, but was started and halted over a period of several years, amid legal issues and COVID-19. Work was finally completed and the hotel opened in spring of 2023 as a Best Western Plus. 

As of Friday afternoon, the hotel appeared to be still doing business.