Hotel California in home stretch to open

By ROBERT CONNELLY

rconnelly@vindy.com

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Austintown’s Hotel California is gleaming but quiet, as issues with its remodeling continue to be resolved. Final inspections have been and will continue to be done over the next few weeks at the Canfield-Niles Road hotel, including a proposal to resolve a plumbing dispute. Owner Sebastian Rucci said he plans to open in a few weeks, as he completes furnishings on the third and fourth floors and finishes a 320-square-foot jacuzzi to hold 40 people on the first floor.

Hotel California - Illegal Installation of Plumbing

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Notice of Violations delivered to the Hotel California regarding Illegal Installation of Plumbing.

Austintown’s Hotel California is gleaming but quiet, as issues with its remodeling continue to be resolved.

Final inspections have been and will continue to be done over the next few weeks at the Canfield-Niles Road hotel, including a proposal to resolve a plumbing dispute.

Owner Sebastian Rucci said he plans to open in a few weeks, as he completes furnishings on the third and fourth floors and finishes a 320-square-foot jacuzzi to hold 40 people on the first floor.

The Mahoning County District Board of Health, however, said Rucci never properly submitted plans for plumbing work at the hotel.

Rucci maintains he had included his plumbing plans within his building plans, submitted and approved by Jeffrey Uroseva, the Mahoning County Building Inspection Department’s chief building official. Rucci repeatedly said it was easy to work with Uroseva.

“The plans that were with the building department never got to the plumbing department,” Rucci said, noting that he didn’t cut corners. “You’re not going to spend $5 million to save on plumbing.”

Both Rucci and Ryan Tekac, interim environmental director for the district board of health, said there is a proposal to remedy the situation.

“We’re trying to come up with some type of resolution for it,” Tekac said. “We’re hoping this is the one we can work with there.”

Tekac, however, did not elaborate on what that proposal includes because of possible litigation.

In documents provided by Uroseva’s department, there are two highlighted sections of Rucci’s approved building plans that say applicants should reach out to the Central Electric Inspection Bureau for electric work, and the district board of health for plumbing, to make sure they are in compliance.

Mary Helen Smith, the county’s previous director of environmental health before leaving last week for a new job, had handled the Hotel California dispute. She provided The Vindicator with a letter dated Nov. 5, 2014, that was hand-delivered to Rucci with his signature on it.

It explains that on Oct. 24, 2014, board of health officials met with Rucci to discuss plumbing at the hotel, 1051 N. Canfield-Niles Road, and because plumbing fixtures were replaced they “were subject to approval.”

That letter goes on to list plan approval requirements, submission of plans, the inspection process, being notified of when work would be done, testing requirements and licensed registered plumber requirements, among other things. Since that communication in November, there have been proposals traded back and forth between Rucci and the district board of health and a proposal now is being discussed.

“All this stuff was here,” Rucci said of the plumbing, some of which needed replaced. “All you are doing is [adding a] new toilet and new sink.”

The board of health, however, argues that some room sizes were changed to reduce the number of hotel rooms from 122 to 102, thus requiring inspections.

While there has been back and forth on the plumbing, Rucci has been approved for some of the inspections he needs before opening.

Electric work was approved Thursday by John Grivensky, chief electric inspector of the Central Electric Inspection Bureau.

“Over the years handymen try things so a lot of that old stuff was cleaned up,” Grivensky said. “This job hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary.”

Similarly, Rick Milliron, lieutenant inspector with the Austintown Fire Department, approved the fire safety system at Hotel California on Jan. 20. He had concerns about the project because the hotel doesn’t have a sprinkler system — since it’s an older building it wasn’t built with one — and has a dry stand pipe system. That is a pipe that runs alongside the building that the fire department can tie into on any floor in case of a fire.

He describes himself as a project’s “beginning and end.”

“I’ve got to approve it ... and then make sure that went in,” Milliron said of the fire safety system.

Uroseva said that he is the last one to do a final inspection. He said the time frame of the hotel project is normal for a renovation.

The Vindicator toured the hotel Friday, a reporter’s first tour since summer 2014, and the hotel appears nearing completion. The facility has a strong blue feel, from the stairwell to the hallways. The first floor, featuring a bar area and a sit-down restaurant, has different music for each section. Three outdoor patios, with heaters, had Caribbean music playing while the bar area featured pop music.

The music stage featured a smaller, removable stage for a lead singer or a comedian.

The hotel features two 800-square-foot suites that will each have a jacuzzi in the room with leather furniture.

“I wanted to give you ... this feeling like, ‘Wow, I’m really being treated,’” Rucci said of the amenities.

He also plans to put together packages for customers of Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course on the other side of Interstate 80 and noted his room rates will be competitive with the Holiday Inn Express, which is on the other side of state Route 46 from his hotel.

The liquor license for Hotel California has yet to be ruled on after a two-day hearing on the application in November 2014. Matt Mullins, spokesman with the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control, said there hasn’t been a decision but that officials at his department “keep telling me very soon” on the decision.

“Without liquor the staff is going to be reduced,” Rucci said. “I think I’m going to open and try it [without liquor].”