Lenexa deems Radisson Hotel unsafe. As owners withdraw lawsuit, another builds
After city inspectors identified several health and safety code violations, the Lenexa City Council unanimously declared the Radisson Hotel on 95th Street to be unsafe.
“We went through this process to encourage major action rather than be back here in a couple years,” Assistant City Attorney Ashlee Tomasic told council members during Tuesday’s meeting.
From smoking electrical outlets and mold growing inside the walls to sunken floors, roof leaks and repairs made with duct tape, the city issued several notices of violations to the hotel, located at 12601 W. 95th Street, starting in September. Seeing no efforts to fix the issues, the city declared the property unsafe and unfit for human occupancy in March and immediately closed the site.
Paul Snider, who spoke on behalf of the property owner and operator, told council members that not all areas of the hotel were plagued by issues and that there have been some efforts underway to alleviate the issues, but the closure has prevented them from taking further action.
But the City Council wasn’t convinced. Nor was the bank that holds the property’s mortgage, which is planning to file a lawsuit against the owners in the next week.
The decision to deem the building unsafe starts the clock for owner, KS Hotels LLC, and operator, Lenexa Vision LP, to either make repairs or tear the building down within a certain amount of time. The city will require the owners to obtain a forensic engineering report by July 16 and submit a plan to either repair or remove the structure by Aug. 17.
The owners will either need to remove the structure by Nov. 15 or issue repairs by next February. If the owner fails to take action, the city can take over to remove the structure and assess the costs against the property owners.
“The use of this building for potentially 300 people to enter and go to sleep, and the seriousness of firefighters when you have people who are unconscious is also unacceptable,” Mayor Julie Sayers said at the end of the meeting. “So whether there’s mold or the tile is unsavory, no matter what the condition is, that is a deadly serious offense that I will not allow to stand.”
Repair efforts
The hotel was first built in 1970 and later expanded in 1982. The Radisson currently has 300 rooms, a restaurant, pool, fitness room and meeting rooms. At the time of closure, 35 employees worked there, with some there for more than 20 years.
While he recognized that there were issues to address, Snider said that the building is “in good shape” and that the property owners have made positive efforts — like replacing some of the deteriorated HVAC vents and curbs and walkways outside of the building.
The engineering study, which is needed to begin the remediation process, is underway, and communication has greatly increased in the last six weeks, pushing the owners in the right direction, he said.
In an effort to continue cooperating with the city, Snider said property owners withdrew a lawsuit they filed against the city — which claimed that the city’s decision to close the property and prevent access to it was illegal.
Snider said the owners want to comply with the city’s decision, but requested for an extended timeline of 60 days, instead of 30, to give them more time to fix the issues. While some council members supported the extra days, deadline extensions will be up to Community Development Director Scott McCullough, not the City Council.
‘It’s unacceptable’
KS Hotels and Lenexa Vision representatives didn’t attend the meeting. Lenexa Vision is a Texas-based company that began overseeing property operations last January. Along with the Radisson, the company oversees hotels in Texas and Dodge City.
“I would say it’s fair to say that they were still getting their sea legs,” Snider said. “Clearly the comprehensive and systemic standards that are here in Lenexa are not something that they have typically dealt with, but they are now coming to that realization very, very quickly.”
He added that the owners are “not accustomed to dealing with this level of sophistication and persistence of city codes.”
Ward 3 Councilmember Chelsea Williamson asked if Lenexa Vision would allow other properties to deteriorate in areas outside of Lenexa and if other locations have similar conditions. Snider said he didn’t have knowledge of the other properties.
“I don’t know what smoking electrical outlets have to do with sophistication,” Ward 1 Councilmember John Micheal Handley added. “This is dangerous, it’s not safe. … numerous guests have been subjected to this, it’s unacceptable.”
Immediate control
As the hotel’s owners withdrew their lawsuit against the city, another is brewing. This time, Wallis Bank, a Texas-based bank that holds the property’s mortgage, is filing against the owners to take “immediate control” of the property, Jason Lieker, an attorney representing the bank, told council members.
“We are going to be asking for an emergency receiver to be assigned. We are going to be enforcing our rights to the property,” Lieker said. “We are going to be asking to take immediate control of the property to safeguard it, secure it and ensure the public is safe.”
Lieker declined to speak to the lawsuit’s details before they filed a petition, but he did confirm that the owners have “multiple defaults” on their mortgage payment. According to Johnson County property records, the owners also owe more than $360,000 in property taxes.
A lawsuit hasn’t been filed in Johnson County court as of June 17.
