Econo Lodge will close temporarily under agreement with city of Battle Creek
Owners of the Econo Lodge have agreed to close the downtown motel for 90 days.
In an agreement reached Thursday, Sabar Hospitality settled an action brought by the city of Battle Creek and will close the motel on Dec. 10.
The settlement came on the eve of a court hearing scheduled for Friday after the city sued to close the motel at 165 Capital Ave. S.W. as a nuisance.
City Attorney Jill Steele said Friday that attorneys for the motel owners proposed the settlement and the city agreed.
"They offered to shut down for three months, and it seemed to not make a lot of sense to not agree," Steele said.
An attorney for Sabar Hospitality, Inc., Ross W. Keilen of Kalamazoo, declined comment on the settlement. The owner Panjak Patel was not at the Econo Lodge on Friday and a clerk did not know when he would be at the motel. A phone message for Patel was not returned on Friday.
The city filed suit in September under state laws that enable the city to declare the motel a public nuisance.
Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge John Hallacy was scheduled to hear a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent new leasing last week but the hearing was delayed until Friday and then cancelled Thursday.
Steele said all guests of the motel must be out by Dec. 12 and the building left vacant.
Between January 2018 and February 2019, police went to the motel 475 times, more than any other hotel in the city.
The city's 223 page complaint cites 35 calls from the previous year, as officers investigated reports of drug possession and trafficking, prostitution, building and fire code violations, assaults, domestic violence and a man living permanently in violation of city ordinances.
Steele said the city agreed to the settlement because they couldn't be certain how Hallacy would rule, but she said if the motel attempts to open in March the complaint will be renewed.
"We will still be asking the court to shut them down," she said.
And she said the city is working on an ordinance for motels and hotels which could provide more oversight.
She said security officers will be on the premise during the night until Dec. 10.
Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson