City gives hotel demolition deadline

Published: Thursday, June 12, 2014 at 5:30 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, June 12, 2014 at 7:09 a.m.

If the beat-up building at the eastern tip of Oakridge Boulevard is still standing after July 5, the property's owner, Russian hotel developer Protogroup, will be ordered to go before a special magistrate July 8 and face a possible $1,000-per-day fine until the motel is reduced to rubble. The maximum fine could run up to $25,000.

Fielding complaints about dilapidation and transients at the empty motel every week, City Commissioner Pam Woods has run dry on patience.

I think it is terrible that at the height of our summer tourist season, and when families are in town, that property looks that way, said Woods, who lives near the Seaside Inn. Shame on the property owners.

Protogroup has said it plans to start construction on the site this fall to put up two 300-foot towers with 500 hotel rooms and 105 condos. Protogroup Vice President Alexey Lysich and Rob Merrell, the Daytona Beach attorney on the project, said this week they hadnt heard about the citys new demolition demand. The latest plan is to topple the motel in September just before construction, Merrell said.

Protogroup applied for the demolition permit in May and paid for it, but hasn't picked it up yet, city officials said.

The project also is waiting on a permit from the state to build closer to the ocean than is automatically allowed, and that permit is expected by September, Merrell said. The state Division of Historical Resources has also been working to determine whether there's any historical significance to the motel, which was constructed in 1956, according to a recent letter from the state historic preservation officer to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Even if Protogroup wants to immediately take down the building, July 5 could come and go without demolition.

Apparently the placed is loaded with asbestos, Police Chief Mike Chitwood said at last week's City Commission meeting when Woods asked for an update.

Just finding a company willing to remove and haul off asbestos a heat-resistant, fibrous material used in the past for building material and fabrics that can cause serious lung diseases if it's not handled very carefully can be a lengthy ordeal, the chief said.

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City gives hotel demolition deadline