The Wichita Falls City Council on Monday voted to require the owner of a dilapidating former hotel to demolish the structure within 30 days.
The vote on the structure at 401 Broad Street came after a lengthy public hearing and debate.
Assistant City Manager Paul Menzies said the building’s owner, Larry Williams of Idyllwild, California, has made repeated promises of redevelopment, but there has been no credible advancement toward rehabilitation.
“While those promises have come and gone, the facility has continued to rapidly deteriorate,” Menzies said.
He said the city revoked the building’s certificate of occupancy in 2016.
Staff reports showed the hotel lost its lodging permit in 2013 and now owes $43,638 in taxes.
Inspectors from city departments presented councilors with photographs showing the 218,000-square-foot building is covered in mold, has water damage, is inhabited by pests and is a fire danger.
A summary from the city’s Code Compliance Division concluded the old hotel is “unsafe, unsanitary, unfit for human habitation, is a fire and health hazard and is dangerous to human life and public safety.”
Dylan Shultz, an Austin attorney, said he has two clients who are lienholders on the property and intend to foreclose on it. A trial is set for July.
Wichitan Phillip Townsend, an architect who said he represents the owner and is a lienholder on the property, said Williams has plans to repair the building but has encountered obstacles and needs more time.
Townsend said the city has shown bias against Williams in trying to enforce the demolition.
“He’s innocent until proven guilty. Tell me how that doesn’t apply,” Townsend said.
The hotel was built in 1982 for $5 million on 4.5 acres of land acquired from the city by Dunigan Enterprises of Abilene, according to a Feb. 4, 1982, article in the Times Record News. It was the first project in Wichita Falls to use low-interest industrial revenue bonds available because of blighted conditions in midtown.
Originally branded as the Kiva Inn, the hotel also operated under the names Holiday Inn, Ramada Inn and Howard Johnson.
Councilors also approved purchase of a scoreboard hoist system for the Kay Yeager Coliseum for $269,831 and an application for nonmatching grant funds from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant.
In closed-door executive session, councilors were scheduled to discuss the hotel property at 401 Broad Street and deliberate on property interests that includes a single parcel of land located next to a city park.
The agenda did not say which park.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls City Council orders old hotel demolished
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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