Landmark Arkansas hotel given deadline to address violations or close

Problems identified at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa in Hot Springs included electrical issues, fire code violations and cracks in the building’s exterior.
Problems identified at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa in Hot Springs included electrical issues, fire code violations and cracks in the building’s exterior.

The city of Hot Springs has informed the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa that safety concerns stemming from years of neglect will close the landmark hotel if the problems aren't corrected by November.

An Aug. 10 letter from Chief Building Official Mike Scott to Arlington General Manager Bob Martorana set a Nov. 8 deadline and warned that the city will close the hotel if it's not in compliance by then.

In the interim, the city closed 47 rooms until safety violations identified during an Aug. 8 inspection are corrected, according to the letter. Scott said most of them involve the use of extension cords and faulty ground-fault-circuit interrupters that protect against shock when electrical items such as hair dryers are dropped in water.

Scott said some of those violations have already been fixed.

The hotel was also informed it has until Sept. 1 to remedy numerous fire code violations revealed during the Hot Springs Fire Department's inspection of the property earlier this month. The violation notice listed more than 20 egress and fire doors that don't fit their frames properly, making them difficult to open and close.

Fire Chief Ed Davis said the inspection was a follow-up to the April inspection the department conducted after it received a complaint.

"The Arlington is almost 100 years old, and it's at a point now to where the level of maintenance that is going on isn't keeping up with the deterioration," said Davis, explaining that temporary fixes are no longer sufficient for the building to maintain an effective fire-defense system.

"We're not trying to throw rocks at anyone. That's just the way it is," he said. "The amount of maintenance needs to be more of a permanent nature and not so much of an episodic nature."

Problems with the exterior of the building detailed in an engineering report the hotel commissioned last year in response to the city's June 2016 notice of unsafe conditions pose the most critical safety hazard, the city said.

The city wants the problems corrected before the temperature drops below freezing, Scott said. The National Weather Service predicts a 50 percent probability that the temperature will reach freezing by Nov. 8, according to the city's letter.

"The plaster is cracked and could come loose, especially during the freeze-and-thaw cycle this winter," Scott said. "There's bricks with cracks and separation that water can get behind. When it freezes, it causes things to heave outward. Some of this stuff could fall off."

City Manager David Frasher said the disrepair of the exterior forced the city to act.

"From a public safety perspective, the city doesn't have any other choice," he said. "From what I've been told, the previous owners stopped doing work on the building a couple of months before closing on the sale of the property. That's not uncommon, but by doing that, it cost valuable time before the freeze-and-thaw cycle.

"Public safety is our No. 1 priority. We take it very seriously."

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The Arlington Hotel Co. Inc. financed the sale of the hotel, adjacent Wade Building and four nearby parking lot parcels last month to Sky Capital Group LP and two other San Antonio-based entities, according to a mortgage filed last month with the Garland County circuit clerk's office.

The properties sold for a combined $5.03 million, according to deeds filed last month, and are securing the $5.6 million mortgage. Al Rajabi, listed as CEO of Sky Capital in a new release issued after the sale of the hotel, risks defaulting on the debt if the hotel were condemned, according to the terms of the mortgage.

Attempts to contact Rajabi have been unsuccessful, and Martorana could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The city's letter to Martorana said Rajabi was made aware of the safety concerns before he purchased the hotel.

Scott said the Arlington Hotel Co., which now holds the mortgage on the property, spent about $600,000 fixing problems identified in the city's June 2016 notice of unsafe conditions. Several roofs were repaired, and the rotted wood decking around the pool was replaced with metal walkways.

Scott said he was uncertain of the cost required to bring the exterior up to code.

"It just depends," he said. "The cost of scaffolding and cranes could be quite expensive. They'll need them because the building is so large."

Business on 08/18/2017

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