The Cavalier Hotel, a Virginia Beach landmark that has hosted presidents and celebrities, is fon the block. According to Virginia Beach city records, the property is assessed at $34.25 million. However, court records show it is worth around $41 million, reported the Virginian-Pilot. Doug Henkel, Tom Ives, Lew Miller, Andy Wimsatt and Kym Halsted of CBRE Inc.’s hotels group are marketing the property.

The Cavalier property occupies a 21-acre tract and includes two hotels. Open since 1927, the seven-story Cavalier on the Hill offers 110 guest rooms. Its counterpart, the 282-key Cavalier Oceanfront, opened in 1970 directly across Atlantic Ave. Between them, the two facilities provide more than 50,000 square feet of meeting and function space and feature indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, a fitness center, and a below-ground parking garage. An owner/manager residence, employee housing and automobile repair garage are also located on the property. Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon have all been guests.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, the court-ordered sale will help resolve a battle among the heirs of Gene Dixon Sr., the late mining magnate, who purchased the Cavalier in 1960. Dixon made a fortune mining the mineral kyanite in Buckingham County.

In a dispute over company profits, Dixon’s grandchildren, who own 42 percent of the family business, the Disthene Group, sued their uncle and cousin, the majority owners. A Faifax County judge ruled in favor of Dixon’s grandchildren and ordered the sale of the family assets to. In addition to the Cavalier complex, a kyanite mine and 30,000 acres of timberland are also for sale.

Photo credits: www.cavalierhotel.com