With the Renaissance Hotel’s next interest payment a week away, Historic Restoration Inc. of New Orleans is proposing to put up $2.2 million needed to make the payment.

UMB Bank, trustee for hotel bondholders, disclosed the HRI proposal today in a notice to bondholders. The proposal comes in a letter from A. Thomas Leonhard Jr., president of HRI.

Bondholders are entitled to interest payments of $3.5 million twice a year, but the hotel has never generated enough revenue to make those payments. Debt-service reserves were used to make payments in the past, but they’re now exhausted. Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex and the hotel’s main equity investor, chipped in extra money to make previous payments, partly to make sure that it didn’t jeopardize federal historic tax credits that it received for its investment. The clawback period on those credits has now expired, so Kimberly-Clark has no incentive to put up more money.

Leonhard’s letter also says that a Kimberly-Clark subsidiary “has concluded that it is in its business interest to exit the project … (and) to sell its ownership interest in the project owner.” HRI will assume Kimberly-Clark’s interest, Leonhard said.