BERKELEY — A Berkeley hotel could head to the auction block now that a lender has urged a bankruptcy court to pave the way for the property’s foreclosure.

The University Inn & Suites hotel at 920 University Ave. is mired in a bankruptcy court case that its owner, Kubera Hotel Properties, filed as a way to ward off a foreclosure.

Hotel lender Wilmington Trust says it is concerned that Kubera Hotel Properties has failed in several instances to land a buyer for the site as a way to pay off the property’s debts. The lender has asked a bankruptcy court judge to terminate the legal proceeding.

The 113-room hotel went into default in February 2025 on a $10.5 million loan, Alameda County real estate records show.

Kubera Hotel Properties filed for bankruptcy in June 2025 and began to scout for a buyer to take ownership, court papers show.

“Throughout this period, Kubera Hotel Properties has made four unsuccessful sale efforts, all of which were nothing more than empty gestures designed to buy additional time,” Wilmington Trust stated in a bankruptcy court filing on April 7.

Wilmington Trust requested that the bankruptcy court lift an automatic stay that is preventing the lender from scheduling an auction and foreclosure of the hotel.

Kubera Hotel Properties and its chief executive officer, Pradeep Khatri, didn’t immediately file a response to the Wilmington Trust declarations, the court docket shows.

The hotel’s owner says it has made at least four attempts to sell the hotel, consisting of two efforts prior to the bankruptcy filing and two during the court case.

In September 2025, Goldfin Ventures emerged as a buyer but ultimately backed out. Another buyer surfaced in March with a plan to convert the hotel to affordable housing.

“After the Goldfin proposed sale fell through, Kubera did not make any identifiable progress in this case for several months until it filed the second sale motion,” Wilmington stated in its court filing. “The second sale was also dead on arrival.”

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the hotel, according to a declaration that principal hotel owner Khatri filed with the bankruptcy court in August 2025.

“Like many businesses, COVID was devastating,” Khatri stated in his filing. “The hotel struggled through the COVID pandemic and was not operating profitably.”