The owners of a Koreatown hotel that have been in a tax dispute with the city of Los Angeles filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, one week after sheriff’s deputies were sent to the hotel to collect unpaid taxes.

Majestic Towers Inc., which owns the Wilshire Hotel at 3515 Wilshire Blvd., filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles.

Attorneys representing Majestic Towers Inc. were in court for a hearing in the case late Friday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

The filing comes one week after two sheriff’s deputies were stationed in the hotel lobby to collect on $3.5 million the hotel owes in bed taxes from May 2009 through last September. In February, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara Meiers ordered the hotel to pay the amount.

The 385-room Wilshire Hotel is located across the street from the Wilshire/Normandie Metro Red Line subway station.