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Problematic Days Inn building to go up for auction

Toledo City Councilman Theresa Gadus hopes the imminent auction of a long-troubled hotel in her district means a new beginning.

“I think that the timing of it would be wonderful for the right purchaser,” Ms. Gadus said of the former Days Inn and Jill’s Bar and Grill near I-75 in East Toledo. “The momentum is there.”

The property at 1800 Miami St., across the freeway from Hollywood Casino Toledo, gained notoriety from a lawsuit the city of Toledo filed in December, 2020, against its then owners, Toledo Nights, declaring the property a public nuisance. The city said police had been sent there 182 times between January, 2018, and November, 2020, for everything from assault to domestic violence to drug overdoses.

A Toledo Municipal Court judge then ordered the hotel closed in September because of the chronic criminal activity as well as numerous building-code violations. An appeal of that ruling is pending in the 6th District Court of Appeals.

According to Marcus & Millichap, a California-based real-estate broker handling the auction, the 1800 Miami property comprises five acres and the starting bid is $500,000.

“I’m excited, I’m hopeful,” said Ms. Gadus said, who in her council role fielded numerous community complaints about the hotel and its deterioration since taking office in early 2020.

“I received many calls about the neighbors being concerned. I’ve heard about the state of the living conditions for the people there and I know that it was a safe haven for people that were struggling with homelessness,” Ms. Gadus said. ”There were maybe some businesses that shouldn’t have been there and with the struggle of the restaurant attached to it and never being able to keep up to code, I think that it was a very long, slow demise. I worked with the administration and several community partners to make sure that all the residents were taken care of that live there.”

For many involved, the area’s overall health and its trajectory make the prospective sale so tantalizing.

The property is a “diamond in the rough,” Ms. Gadus said, and a motivated entrepreneur should be able to utilize the casino, the nearby Glass City River Wall mural, and nearby attractions like the new Glass City Metropark as draws to promote business.

Lance Woodworth, president and chief executive officer of Destination Toledo, said I-75 improvements and the Gordie Howe International Bridge now under construction between Detroit and Windsor, Ont., should help attract out-of-town casino patrons who might be interested in staying at a rebuilt or revitalized hotel nearby.

“I’m glad to hear the news. I think it’s good that the property has a chance to reinvent itself in a positive way,” Mr. Woodworth said. “I think there’s opportunity for growth there at the casino and if you look at the expansion that they’re doing, right now, and then the addition of sports betting that’s coming into play, there’s a lot of potential in that area, and it’s all it’s positioning itself well for upward mobility.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Woodworth said, stricter restrictions in Michigan caused many gamblers to migrate from Detroit-area casinos down to Toledo, giving Hollywood Casino Toledo a business boost ripe for a new hotel owner to take advantage of.

“The casino is one of our major attractions,” Mr. Woodworth said. “Over the last couple of years, with a lot of the casinos being shut down in Michigan, we saw a lot of cross-border traffic, and Hollywood was leading the state in revenue when you looked at the revenue reports.”

Mr. Woodworth said he heard from many such casino travelers who mentioned how they didn’t realize how nice it was in Toledo and how they got exposed to a product that maybe they wouldn’t have otherwise, which made them want to come back.

The Days Inn building was built in 1967, last changed hands in 1995, and has operated under several different brands over the years.

Posted By: The Toledo Blade on January 21, 2022.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

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