ELYRIA, Ohio – Elyria hopes a recently filed lawsuit will help hold the owner of a vacant, dilapidated hotel accountable for its condition.
The former Days Inn greets anyone entering the north side of town, its boarded-up windows and overgrown vegetation visible from nearby State Route 57 between Interstate 90 and the Ohio Turnpike.
“It’s an albatross,” said Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker. “Here we have the turnpike and I-90, and there’s some redevelopment coming up in that area. There are two nice hotels to my left, and a third is going to be built in the fall. And then here we have this monstrosity.”
The mayor and other longtime Elyria residents remember the hotel’s heyday when it was the pride of the city.
“This property was the gathering place for weddings, graduations and reunions. There was a bar, a ballroom and a hotel,” Brubaker said.
Elyria Fire Chief Joseph Pronesti added, “It was a prime location in town, especially with the mall nearby. But that was then, and now times are really tough.”
The hotel, which was formerly a Holiday Inn and a Ramada before starting operations as a Days Inn, had previously run into legal trouble.
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In 2020, a Lorain County Court of Common Pleas judge declared the hotel a nuisance, forcing the then-owners to cease operations and sell the property.
A lawsuit was recently filed in Lorain County on behalf of the city against the current owner, Suite Living, LLC, with court documents calling the property a “threat to public health” and “dangerous to human life.”
“As far as the safety of my firefighters is concerned, it is probably one of the most dangerous buildings in the city,” Pronesti said.
He explained that the large, vacant building lacks fire safety measures and has long attracted squatters. He fears that a fire inside could put his crews in a dangerous situation, having to evacuate the dilapidated building and not knowing if anyone is inside.
The lawsuit lists numerous fire and building code violations, as well as police reports of squatting and drug dealing. It also includes reports from the Lorain County Health Department of human waste, vandalism, nuisance animals and mold growth.
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Many reports mention that the deadlines for resolving the problems have now passed. The city administration hopes that the lawsuit will prompt action.
“We have been dealing with this for seven or eight years. Now it is time for us to act and react a little more harshly,” said the mayor.
News 5 contacted Connecticut-based property owner Shahid Shaikh. He claimed he was unaware of the lawsuit and said he was waiting to see what the future holds for the nearby Midway Mall.
“We don’t want to stand in the way of progress. We want to either be part of it or put it in qualified hands,” Shaikh said in a phone call.
He told News 5 that it was never his intention to leave the hotel empty for years. He said it would not make financial sense to invest in the property or sell it until it was clear what kind of new building could replace the dilapidated shopping center.
The Lorain County Port Authority is currently finalizing the sale of Midway Mall to commercial redevelopment group ICP.
The Cleveland-based company announced it would invest $42 million in the mall to create an “industrial innovation park.”
The future of the Midway Mall in Elyria has been decided
RELATED: The future of the Midway Mall in Elyria has been decided
Shaikh said he is interested in discussions about how the former Days Inn property could fit into the Midway Mall redevelopment and he is willing to sell the site to either the Port Authority or ICP.
Brubaker said the city has received interest in the property from developers. He and other city leaders want the inconvenience addressed so the new development can move forward.
“(We want) to make it a sustainable, respectable sight for the residents and visitors of our city,” he said.
Elyria’s law director said the city has not yet received a response from Shaikh or Suite Living, LLC regarding the lawsuit. She said the timeline for the civil case depends on the property owner’s actions.
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