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By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteMcClatchy-Tribune Regional News Sept. 10--The owner of the former Hilton Pittsburgh and its lender have reached an agreement that should enable employees at the
bankrupt hotel to be paid today, pending approval by a judge. In a stipulated "bridge" order filed late Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh, BlackRock Financial Management Inc. agreed to release hotel revenues it had been holding to pay about 300 full- and part-time workers and to fund operations. Shubh Hotels Pittsburgh LLC, the owner of the former Hilton, had filed expedited motions Wednesday for authorization to pay employees and to use revenues under the control by BlackRock, a New York-based lender, to run the high-profile hotel at the entrance to the Golden Triangle. BlackRock has been holding the funds since Shubh filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. Under the stipulation, BlackRock agreed to fund ordinary operating expenses until Sept. 15, based on an interim budget that included today's paychecks for workers. A bankruptcy judge will consider the stipulation at a hearing this morning. Shubh attorney Scott Hare said he is hopeful that the judge will give his approval, noting that the two major parties involved, Shubh and BlackRock, have agreed to the stipulation. "We have put in place the pieces to accomplish what we hoped to accomplish [Friday in paying workers]," he said. In its motions for authorization to pay employees and to use revenues to operate the former Hilton, Shubh said that if BlackRock did not agree to release funds, it had lined up a $1 million loan from Dr. Kiran C. Patel, a Tampa, Fla., cardiologist and philanthropist who is part owner of the hotel. The stipulation would stay in effect until Sept. 15, when the parties have requested a hearing on the continuing use of the revenues under the control of BlackRock. A hearing also is scheduled that day on a separate request by the lender for authorization to foreclose on the property despite Shubh's bankruptcy filing. When Shubh filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it triggered an automatic stay of foreclosure proceedings that BlackRock had started last week in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Mark Belko:
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