Great Neck realty firm buys landmark New England hotel

Great Neck-based United Capital Corp., a real estate investment company, has expanded its network of hotel properties with the purchase of a landmark New Hampshire resort.

The company paid $5.5 million for the 326-room Radisson Hotel Nashua, which has a distinctive castle-like design, as part of a foreclosure proceeding, United Capital said in a news release last week. The hotel has long played a role in the civic life of Nashua, N.H., as a venue for weddings and other social events.

United Capital holds a $22 million mortgage on the hotel, which it bought at a discount in June after the previous mortgage holder defaulted.

The seven-story Radisson Hotel Nashua, the company said, is a "full-service hotel and spa located on almost 17 acres in suburban New Hampshire and includes 24,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, a restaurant and lounge, an extensive fitness facility and spa, and both indoor and outdoor pools."

United Capital Corp. owns more than 150 properties nationwide including a Radisson in upstate Utica and other hotels at airports in Miami, Atlanta and Windsor Locks, Conn.

“This hotel is a remarkable addition to our portfolio and under our management will become the premier hotel in the region," A.F. Petrocelli, United Capital’s chairman and president, said in the news release.

"We intend to return the property to the grand stature to which it was known to the Nashua community for so many years," he said.

In a voluntary move this summer, United Capital ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange and instead listed its shares over the counter, on the OTC pink sheets, under the symbol UCAP. At the same time, the United Capital board initiated a buyback of all 3.6 million shares of common stock.

In a recent report the company said it had $229.5 million in assets, and had $22.4 million in revenues in the three-month period ended Sept. 31.

The company also owns two Edison, N.J., manufacturing subsidiaries, AFP Transformers Corp., and Metal Textiles Corp. a maker of knitted wire mesh.