Council Votes to Close Problem Hotel on Carmichael Road, Delays Vote On $5.5M Property Deal

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — Montgomery City Council members say an extended-stay hotel on Carmichael Road has become a magnet for crime, and Tuesday night they took action. Officials say violence and fights in the area have become an almost nightly issue for police.

Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys said officers responded to 261 incidents at the Suburban Studios hotel over the past year. Montgomery Fire Rescue also responded to 51 calls at the property during that time.

Of the police calls, four people were shot. At least five calls were for shots fired, and 15 involved reports of subjects with guns.

Council Chairman C.C. Calhoun, who represents District 5, said the issues at the hotel had gone on long enough.

“This location has caused too many problems for me to sit as a representative of District 5 and say I’m willing to let it go another year or another six months,” Calhoun said. “And then next week something happens because we don’t have the process in place to ensure this is going to be operated in the proper manner.”

District 8 Councilman Glenn Pruitt said the volume of calls to the hotel has diverted resources from nearby neighborhoods.

“What they’re doing is they’re taking away police who could be responding to calls in the surrounding neighborhoods like Vaughn Meadows, Green Acres, Carriage Hills, or wherever,” Pruitt said.

The hotel’s owner said several improvements have already been made, including replacing the management team, evicting 35 people, installing more than 30 security cameras, adding lighting and reconfiguring exit doors so they cannot be entered from outside.

“We are in the process of installing software where you scan their IDs and their criminal records will pop up, so we can identify problem guests before we rent the room to them,” the owner said.

Mayor Steven Reed said the city must hold property owners accountable.

“We’ve got to send a message that you can’t be an absentee landlord in the City of Montgomery and play to the lowest common denominator,” Reed said. “We have to make sure that as people from Auburn or Huntsville or Homewood or Vestavia or anywhere else are doing things here, they do them the same way they would do it where they live.”

The council voted unanimously to revoke the hotel’s business license.

Another prominent issue at Tuesday’s meeting was a last-minute agenda item that would commit the city to a $5.5 million purchase agreement with Farpoint Investment Ventures, LLC for the former Montgomery Advertiser buildings at 425 and 475 Molton St. The property would be used to expand convention center space along the downtown riverfront.

Reed said the timetable is tight.

“We’re not in the best position timewise because in order for this to move forward they need to close by December 11,” he said.

District 9 Councilman Charles Jinright questioned the rush, noting the city previously spent nearly $100,000 on a feasibility study.

“That’s awful tight for us to be pushed in that corner to close that quickly on a piece of property that’s been vacant for quite some time,” Jinright said. “I just wonder why we’re going now on this, because we spent almost $100,000 on a survey to figure out if this project would work, and that survey has not come back to my knowledge.”

The council delayed voting on the matter until Dec. 8 to gather more information from the mayor’s office. The council will meet at 1 p.m. on Dec. 8, and the meeting is open to the public.