The owner of Milwaukee's Iron Horse Hotel has filed to reorganize its finances under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — listing debts that include a $2 million federal loan.

Rider Hotel LLC's filing comes as it faces a separate foreclosure suit pending against the boutique 100-room hotel, 500 W. Florida St., in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

The Chapter 11 filing doesn't mean the Iron Horse is shutting down, said Tim Dixon, Rider Hotel president.

"It's performing well," he told the Journal Sentinel.

The filing allows the hotel to reorganize its finances, which typically means reducing debts owed to various other businesses, under federal bankruptcy court supervision.

The initial filing says Rider Hotel has estimated liabilities ranging from $10 million to $50 million. It provides the same range for the hotel's estimated assets.

The largest unsecured creditor is the U.S. Small Business Administration.

That's for a $2 million COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan. That program was created to help small businesses recover from the pandemic's economic impacts.

The Iron Horse, like many U.S. hotels, shut down for months in 2020 because of the pandemic. The hotel has since recovered as both business and leisure travel increases, Dixon said.

The problem, he said, is that Miami-based commercial real estate lender Rialto Capital has refused to allow Rider Hotel to use the SBA loan proceeds.

Dixon said that triggered a foreclosure suit filed against Rider Hotel in November by a Rialto affiliate, which services the hotel's loan.

Rialto's attorney didn't immediately respond to the Journal Sentinel's request for comment.

That suit now faces the likelihood of an automatic hold because of the Chapter 11 filing, according to online court records.

That includes rendering moot Rialto's request for a court-appointed receiver operate the Iron Horse.

This isn't the Iron Horse's first high-profile court dispute.

In 2019, Rider Hotel sued Chicago-based Aparium Hotel Group LLC over claims that Aparium mismanaged the hotel — causing a myriad problems.

Aparium denied those claims and said Dixon ignored its warning to reinvest profits and update the hotel's concept amid increasing competition.

The suit was settled out of court in 2021.

The Iron Horse, located near the Harley-Davidson Museum and known for its biker-friendly atmosphere, opened in 2008 within a historic former industrial building that Dixon redeveloped.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Iron Horse Hotel in files to reorganize finances under Chapter 11