Wednesday, October 27, 2010
By Elise Franco
Canfield
The former El Patio Motel is no closer to reopening despite changing its name.
City Manager Joe Warino said the motel, which has been closed since April 2009 under a court order, has had several interested parties, but no one who was willing to complete the purchase.
Arthur Klein, motel owner, was sentenced in April to probation after pleading guilty to a charge of promoting prostitution.
The charge stemmed from an investigation led by the city police department in 2009. Police checked into complaints related to prostitution at Klein’s former properties, the El Patio Motel, 485 W. Main St., and the Canfield Colonial Motel, 7815 Akron-Canfield Road.
As a part of the sentencing, Klein is prohibited from owning or operating any motel or hotel during his two-year probation period.
Klein couldn’t be reached to comment Tuesday.
Warino said the group of monks who acquired the former Canfield Colonial through a land-purchase agreement with Klein wanted to do the same with the former El Patio.
The monks renamed El Patio the Evergreen Motel, Warino said, but they were unable to complete the desired land purchase because Klein would remain the property owner, violating his court sentence.
“One of the issues we dealt with is that Klein cannot operate a hotel or motel on that property, and as the owner of the property, his name has to appear by state law on the license,” Warino said. “Unless he sold it outright and had his name removed, [the monks] could not operate it.”
Warino said another entity has expressed interest in purchasing the property.
“We hope that works out because we don’t want to leave it lying dormant to deteriorate,” he said. “We’d like to see it producing income for the city and being cleaned up.”
The city manager said he knows there might be concern that a new owner would allow the same type of activity.
“That potential exists, but certainly we are trying to alleviate that from happening,” he said. “An ordinance passed a few years ago allows city police to go in now and keep a closer eye on it.”