Dec. 14--A Boston bank has filed a lawsuit in Lancaster County Court to take over ownership of the downtown Ramada Inn Brunswick Conference Center because the hotel's owner has fallen behind on debt payments. 

Attorneys for State Street Bank and Trust Co. claim L.A. Brunswick Associates LP, the Ramada Inn's owner, owes the bank almost $5.2 million. 

The bank is moving in court to foreclose on the 221-room hotel at East Chestnut and North Queen streets because its owner has defaulted on its mortgage. 

"This is a friendly foreclosure action," Arthur S. Gabinet, an attorney for State Street, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "The current owners are finding the occupancy rates are not enough to support the debt service on the property. 

"From what I understand, they have made a very heroic effort to make the property profitable." 

GF Management Inc. of Philadelphia has managed the hotel for the last three years, but the bank has hired property manager Hostmark Hospitality Group of Schaumburg, Ill., to turn around the 31-year-old Lancaster hotel's finances. 

The hotel will remain open, but the building eventually will be sold at a sheriff's sale. 

"The hope is, with a lower debt load, the hotel will be a profitable enterprise," Gabinet said. 

GF Management officials last Thursday told the hotel's 50 employees Hostmark will take over Dec. 24. The hotel's restaurant closed last week, and the restaurant staff shifted to banquet work. An earlier round of layoffs affected management-level employees. 

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