The fate of the Brewton Ramada Inn was decided Tuesday afternoon, owners said.
“We are so pleased to announce that instead of rennovating the current location, the bank has given us the go-ahead to construct a new property,” owner Sarju Patel said.
It was one week ago the state fire marshal’s office issued an order to shut down the hotel, citing unsafe conditions for guests. The two-story structure sits on Douglas Avenue and houses 90 rooms, Paulk said. Of those, only 10 rooms were available for occupancy because of issues caused by a leaky room, state fire marshal Ed Paulk said.
Sarju Patel said last week the office’s decision was not a surprise. She said she and her brother were given the bank’s approval to close the doors the day before the order was issued.
Just before 3 p.m. Tuesday, the family received the great news.
“In 2005, we voluntarily shut down for a year because of the same type of situation,” Patel said. “This time it’s the same.
“We always thought it was a more viable option to put in a new hotel,” she said. “Hilton has done a feasibility study and said that Brewton is definitely a market they want to be in. That company has six or seven different brands that they work with.”
The Patel family owns five hotel properties.
“We had actually stopped renting rooms on Tuesday,” Patel said as she described the building’s roofing issues. “The building is 40 years old, and that old, flat-styled roof has been repaired at least three times. We couldn’t get a permit from the state to repair it again.
“Without that permit, we couldn’t fix the roof, and there was nothing we could do to fix the inside,” she said.
The new un-named franchise hotel will house 73 rooms; however, a construction timetable was not immedately known. Patel said she believes the hotel will add approximately 25-35 new jobs.