City of Tuscaloosa To Vote To Revoke Business License of Infamous Motel 6

The Tuscaloosa City Council will vote Tuesday night on a measure to revoke the business license of the Motel 6 on McFarland Boulevard near Interstate 20/59 and Skyland Boulevard.

The motel is home to a huge number of issues, not least of which is that the lodging is not even a Motel 6 anymore.

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According to the resolution being considered Tuesday, "CT Hotels, LLC is no longer a franchisee of Motel 6 and may not use the Motel 6 trademark." The resolution said Motel 6 even sent a team to remove their branded sign from the property, but the establishment has continued to present itself as a Motel 6.

Almost all of the rooms at the motel are also currently unavailable to rent because of a wide variety of serious code violations.

"The balconies have sustained significant damage due to water intrusion. The railings do not appear capable of supporting the minimum side force necessary to meet code," the resolution reads. "The city building official closed units at the level of the balconies and below the balconies to occupancy."

The swimming pool there is reportedly full of stagnant water. Walls, floors and ceilings throughout the motel are damaged and need repairs. Several bathrooms are inoperable or totally dismantled.

The city's inspection wasn't the only cause of units being closed to occupancy, though -- a health department official also visited the motel and closed even more units in February.

According to the resolution, the health department closed off a staggering 79 of the motel's 124 rooms. Violations reportedly included "mold, water leaks, padlocks on exterior doors, a badly worn mattress and unclean rooms." After various inspections, just 28 of the rooms on the property are available to rent, and "the majority of unsafe conditions have not been corrected to date."

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. The city also reported 695 police responses to the motel between May 2019 and February 2022, an abysmal average of more than 21 calls for police assistance a month for 32 months straight.

Those included 30 reports of assault, 27 reports of theft, 44 drug crime calls, 33 calls reporting domestic violence and more -- not to mention the armed standoff that unfolded at the motel last August. 

The resolution also adds that Ankit Patel, the son of the motel's owner Ashok Patel, has been arrested twice by narcotics agents on the property -- once in November 2020 for possession of marijuana and again this February for reportedly selling meth out of the motel's rooms.

There were also no shortage of registry violations -- some rooms had been occupied for more than the maximum-allowed 30 days. Five employees were reportedly living at the motel and were working to pay for their rooms. Those violations and more reportedly led to Patel being issued a half dozen citations and another going to the motel's manager.

The resolution on Tuesday's agenda the conditions and activities at the motel "are offensive, injurious and dangerous to the public health, safety and welfare to the extent that the listed premises or licensed activity is a public nuisance."

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If the council approves the resolution, they will permanently revoke the motel's business license as well as their privilege to renew the license, criminalizing any further attempt to do business at the Motel 6 -- which, again, isn't even really a Motel 6 to begin with.

UPDATE: The city council unanimously voted to table this matter for two weeks and will reconsider the revocation during their next meeting on June 28th.