Report: Oheka Castle unable to refinance mortgage

The owner of Oheka Castle Hotel & Estate was not able to refinance the property’s $27.9 million mortgage when it came due in August, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The Huntington hotel’s owner, Gary Melius, said he was negotiating with the loan’s special servicer to delay the loan deadline by as much as five years, according to the Journal. Melius said the hotel made on-time mortgage payments until August, when the loan matured, the Journal reported.

The former Otto Kahn estate has hosted the weddings of such celebrities as Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, and its suites rent for up to $1,095 a night. The French-style castle -- the nation’s second-largest private residence, after Biltmore in North Carolina -- had fallen into disrepair before Melius bought it in 1984, sold it and then bought it back again.