GREENWOOD, Ind. – The city of Greenwood wants a troubled hotel torn down.

Building commissioner Kenneth Seal initially issued a demolition order in March for the Red Carpet Inn and Fanta Suites located at 1117 E. Main St. That order came months after the Greenwood Advisory Plan Commission found the building to be an unsafe structure.

The commission voted 9-0 to affirm the demolition order during a hearing this week. The building’s owner is considering options.

According to the demolition order, concerns about the site began in June 2021, when inspectors found 188 violations ranging from cockroaches and bedbugs to deficiencies with plumbing and the electrical system, fire hazards, mold and water damage.

The building owner was given the chance to fix the issues. In September 2022, more than a year after the problematic inspection, another inspection found further deterioration of the property, resulting in a non-compliance notice and a notice to vacate. The order described the results of that inspection as “alarming,” with few improvements made to the property, which was considered an “uninhabitable, unsafe and unsanitary environment.”

The city went back and forth with the property owner and continued a hearing on non-compliance scheduled for October 24, 2022, on the condition that the property would be vacated two days later. The city said the agreement was immediately breached, with several people still being allowed to live at the site.

During a November 2022 inspection, the property owner denied inspectors access to certain areas of the site, the order said. The parts inspectors were able to see “remained in a dilapidated and unsafe condition.”

The health department, fire department and building department performed another inspection in January 2023. They found many of the same problems, including building code violations, evidence of vandalism and break-ins, problems with rodents and vermin, broken pipes and flooding, utility issues and the like. The area became a dumping ground for “garbage, trash and other debris,” according to the order.

From mid-June 2021 through January 2023, there were a combined 289 visits to the property from police, fire and EMS runs, according to the city. The demolition order said the property, should it continue to operate, “will remain a burden” to the city and its residents.

“After reviewing the reports generated by the health department and fire department, as well as my personal observations in my capacity as a building commissioner, it is readily apparent that a large number of the violations present in June 2021 have endured, and in some cases have been allowed to worsen: the property remains unsafe,” Seal wrote in the demolition order.

Now that the commission affirmed the order, the hotel must take “substantial steps” toward the demolition within 15 days.