The suit at the centre of a $125 million restoration
A lawsuit filed in business court in Mineral Wells, Texas, accuses The Baker Hotel Development Partners, LLC and one of its managers, Thomas "Randy" Nix, of fraud in the restoration of the Baker Hotel. The petition seeks an injunction. Nix denies the claims.
Every money figure in the petition is an allegation, and no court has ruled on any of them.
The sums the petition names
The petition describes a construction budget of $125,000,000. It alleges misappropriation of about $3 million in developer fees, acquisition of more than $4 million in partnership interests, misapplication of up to $2 million in partnership funds, and attempted subordination of more than $10 million in existing partnership investments.
Laird Fairchild, a plaintiff and co-originator of the restoration, has contributed more than $1.03 million. He claims interests and developer fees of around $1.5 million were seized through a disputed foreclosure. Porfirio and Jennifer Dubon, both disabled veterans, invested around $1.18 million.
Who holds the asset
The Development Partners formed as a Texas limited liability company on 5 March 2014 to act as managing general partner of a wider limited partnership of investors. Baker Hotel Holdings, LP formed in September 2015 with the Development Partners as sole general partner.
The board of managers expanded from three members to four in April 2019, and Nix joined at 16.67 per cent alongside G. Brint Ryan, Fairchild, Chad Patton and Jeff Trigger. Mark Rawlings and the Thiels held 8.3 per cent each.
The 2023 restructuring and the conversion
A January 2023 restructuring split the Development Partners into three equal interests held by Ryan, by Nix and by the Baker Half Dozen. The petition cites increased costs, supply chain issues and higher interest rates.
The Half Dozen contributed $1.29 million. Ryan and Nix agreed to convert $1.5 million of loan portions into partnership equity. The petition states the conversion never happened. It states that the partnership kept $1.04 million the Half Dozen had contributed, and that the loans kept accruing interest at 15 per cent.
Fairchild and Patton resigned from the board and kept their shares. The petition alleges that Nix and Ryan then obtained two loans of $3.5 million, and that investor reporting fell from monthly to as much as six months apart.
The default, the merger and the certificate
In 2026 a notice of maturity default went to Baker Hotel Holdings, LP on a $3 million loan at 15 per cent interest, with Nix and Ryan named as lenders. The petition alleges the two foreclosed on collateral behind debt they controlled.
In September 2026 the two presented a merger proposition that combined the LLC with BH Newco, LP, an entity Nix created. The deadline for written consents was 3 October. The petition alleges objections from Fairchild and Jennifer Dubon and non-consent requests representing more than 33 per cent, and that a Certificate of Merger reached the Texas Secretary of State claiming an effective date of 15 September 2026.
The petition asks the court to void the foreclosure and the merger, restore the positions held before January 2023, order an accounting from 2019, grant record access, and award fees, damages and punitive damages against Nix.
The funding stack behind the rooms
The renovation has run since 2008. Mineral Wells voters approved a share of local sales tax revenue for the hotel in 2014. The group has pursued federal and state historic tax credits, opportunity zone capital, a Mineral Wells tax increment financing district and 4B sales-tax funding.
The group has worked on a USDA-backed loan through a rural economic development programme. Nix said the guarantee ceiling was removed and raised to around $25 million. He said the project faces a couple of years of construction once funding closes.
The reopening date has moved through the years. Nix said the major interior components remain to be finished.
Sally Sexton reported the filing for the Weatherford Democrat. Hotel Online carried the syndicated copy on 13 October 2026.