Rochester officials shut down a downtown Wyndham hotel June 12 over fire and building code violations, a move both the mayor and owner say could have been avoided.
The mayor and the hotel owner agree on one thing: It didn’t have to go this far.
The City of Rochester ordered the temporary closure of the downtown Wyndham Hotel on June 12 after it said management failed to address nearly two dozen critical fire and building code violations. Code enforcement records show the State Street hotel was recently cited for blocked fire exits and broken or missing doors around common areas, including the ballroom, restaurant and bar.
Mayor Malik Evans called the closure a “last resort” after multiple meetings with hotel management to resolve the complaints.
“When you see that happen, it means that we ran out of time and we ran out of patience,” he said of the closure. “We have a lot of demands on our city for hotel rooms. And we want to see the Wyndham and all hotels to be able to succeed, but they have to be operated in a safe manner.”
Wyndham owner says external management team ‘didn’t do their job’
Hotel owner Nayan Patel blamed the delay on an outside hotel management company he hired to run the property while he was on medical leave. Patel, who lives in Atlanta, said he was unaware of the code violations until the closure order came down last week.
He is now in town to oversee repairs and said the former management team was let go over the weekend.
Patel described the code violations as minor, including crash bars on exit doors in the ballroom that needed to be replaced. He hopes to meet with city officials soon and reopen in the next two weeks.
“I don’t blame the city, they were not too happy,” Patel said. “It should not have gotten this far.”
— Kayla Canne covers community safety for the Democrat and Chronicle with a focus on immigration, police accountability, government surveillance and how people are impacted by violence. Follow her on Instagram @bykaylacanne. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Why Rochester shut down the downtown Wyndham hotel
Reporting by Kayla Canne, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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By Kayla Canne, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | USA TODAY Network
