ADRIAN — As the new year begins, city leadership in Adrian is trying to make sure it has physical control of a former motel on the city’s west side that at one time was deemed a public nuisance by the City Commission, and has since been used as a temporary place of shelter for those residents from the 2022 Riverview Terrace evacuation.
The Adrian Inn has been turned back over to the city of Adrian from Housing Help of Lenawee, which had been leasing the building from the city for the purpose of providing temporary housing for the displaced tenants of the Riverview Terrace apartments. A lease-surrender agreement is in place, city leaders said.
In 2022, after the evacuation of the Riverview Terrace apartments due to structural failures and the discovery of large cracks in the building’s foundation, the Adrian City Commission made the decision to purchase the Adrian Inn, which was then for sale, at a price of $800,000. This purchase made by the city in the summer of 2022 allowed residents of Riverview Terrace — who had no other options — a temporary place to stay while they sought permanent housing.
The Adrian Inn was deemed a public nuisance by the City Commission in June 2021 because of continued illegal activity, drug use and violence, which ownership attempted to cease multiple times.
From August 2022: Adrian City Commission enters into purchase agreement for Adrian Inn for $800,000
Shortly after acquiring the motel, the city leased it to Housing Help of Lenawee (the Lenawee Emergency and Affordable Housing Corp.) for $1 per year, so that they could operate it on behalf of the Riverview residents as a transitional housing facility. The lease was for three years, two of which have elapsed, Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott said.
“Earlier this year, in light of the fact that Riverview Terrace is now once again open and accepting tenants, Housing Help (of Lenawee) approached the city about ending its lease and surrendering the premises,” Elliott said in a Dec. 20 weekly administrator email update. “I believe that their decision was also informed by deteriorating conditions at the building. The lease-surrender technically took place effective Dec. 5. Prior to that date, Housing Help gave a ‘Notice to Quit’ to each person to whom it had leased a room. Proceedings related to their eviction actions are still ongoing.”
Housing Help of Lenawee will continue to assist those individuals who do not yet have permanent housing secured.
Another part of Elliott’s Dec. 20 email update said the city was notified by Housing Help of Lenawee that a number of people had broken into what should have been vacant rooms at the (Adrian) Inn. One of the problems with this, Elliott described, is the use of a master key to the Adrian Inn that the city itself is not in possession of.
The Adrian Inn, 1575 W. Maumee St. in Adrian, is pictured in this file photo from June 2021, when the Adrian City Commission voted to declare the motel a public nuisance.
“Yesterday (Thursday, Dec. 19), our police department cleared those rooms and our DPW (Department of Public Works) secured the doors against reentry. To be clear, these persons were trespassers, not former tenants of Housing Help.”
“Housing Help and the city have been working together very well on this. There is a plan in place to hopefully have this done around the first of the year, although we don’t control the courts if we do have people who stay,” Adrian City Attorney Burke Castleberry said during the city’s Dec. 16 regular meeting.
What might become of the former Adrian Inn?
From previous discussions and around the time when the Commission agreed to buy it, the Adrian Inn was realized to be an eventual teardown facility after its use for housing residents from the Riverview Terrace evacuation was completed.
The primary rationale behind the city purchasing the Adrian Inn for $800,000 was to house the evacuated residents of Riverview Terrace, Elliott said. The secondary rationale was to eliminate the motel as a public nuisance.
“We don’t want this to be an occupied property in its current state and it’s not repairable, in our opinion, to a standard that would make it desirable motel property in the future,” Elliott told the City Commission.
There has been interest from Adrian College in the property, but not to use the existing building, Elliott said. Hotel operators also have reached out to the city for the potential of using the current motel space. That is something the city should deem as a “non-starter,” Elliott advised, when reactivating that parcel.
Housing Help of Lenawee has one more year on its lease agreement with the city of Adrian at the Adrian Inn, but the reason the building is transferring hands back to the city at this time is because of Adrian’s rental housing inspection criteria. A log of needed repairs at the Adrian Inn was filed by the city’s rental housing inspector, and leadership with Housing Help of Lenawee made the decision to not pursue those enhancements/fixtures.
Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott
“It served its purpose,” Elliott said of the Adrian Inn. “Riverview Terrace is open and anybody who wants to move back there can do that. We still have funds available to help those folks relocate. We’re working with Housing Help (of Lenawee) on those funds.”
There potentially could be two parcels at the lot if/when the building is demolished, Elliott said. There is quite a bit of property in the back of the former motel that could be of interest to Adrian College, it was suggested. The front portion of the parcel could become a commercial business.
Elliott’s recommendation to the city commission is to demolish the Adrian Inn “as soon as we can.”
Anticipated costs for tearing down the Adrian Inn could come in between $500,000 and $750,000, Elliott advised, although price specific bids and quotes for that purpose have not yet been secured.
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“I think it’s going to be a problem keeping it secure,” Elliott said as part of his justification for wanting to demolish the building. “… The property will be more marketable with the building demolished.”
At least 30 people, as of the city’s Dec. 16 meeting, were still residing at the Adrian Inn with authority from Housing Help of Lenawee.
“We should not entertain any offers that propose to reuse that building,” Elliott advised. “… The reality is the building is not reusable, and no one would spend the money needed, which is in the order of millions of dollars, to bring it up to code.
“My great fear is that we would get what we had before: somebody operating a low-cost motel which becomes a nuisance to the city.”
— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LenaweeHeineman.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: What is happening with the Adrian Inn? The city is deciding its fate.