I've been receiving some very interesting e-mails from friends at City Hall, Chase Ingersoll, and people who work for Chase regarding the Grandview Hotel situation. Chase has taken to calling City Manager, Randy Oliver, "The Grinch" as The City asked Judge Barra to uphold his order to close the problematic hotel.
Not surprisingly, Judge Barra agreed. Judges tend to expect that their orders will be obeyed. The smart way to do business with The Court would to have been to close the place and
then ask that the Hotel be allowed to stay open due to new ownership.
Chase says he is the new owner. The old owner was the problem, the cause of the numerous crimes and police response to the property. Judge Barra, who recently entertained a plethora of motions from Chase decided that the issue of ownership would be decided in a separate trial. "Old" owner, Krishan Jain now says that the sale between he and Chase is null and void, as Ingersoll did not make necessary mortgage payments. Chase says Jain committed crimes on the property and that the $9,000 mortgage payment is being held in escrow.
What we do know for a fact is this: Chase knew he was buying a Hotel that was slated to close. At the time of purchase Chase stated that he was happy the Hotel was closing and that he planned to use that time to make much needed renovations. He even stated that he would like to close the Hotel sooner than required in order to get started on repairs. Didn't happen.
Chase was also happy about the closure, he said, because he was able to purchase the property at a rock bottom price, and actually thanked the City for its legal pursuit against "old" owner Jain.
Ingersoll then decided the closure order didn't apply to him. Next, Chase started taking in guests. If news reports are to be believed, there are more people living at the Grandview Hotel now than in years. Thirty or so.
Whether Chase Ingersoll is legally correct or not will ultimately be decided by The Court. He has lost all of his latest battles in front of Barra. Who knows if a higher court will entertain his next round of paperwork?
Nonetheless, Ingersoll needs to take some responsibility. He knows enough law to know that victory was by no means a sure thing. In fact, considering that Judge Barra is an elected official living on the North end of town, and has been presiding over a case in a courtroom filled with fed up, angry residents for months, well, the outcome was fairly foreseeable. Some how, some way, that hotel is going to close... at least for a little while. From here, it looks like Chase attempted to pack the Hotel solely to try to make closing the place that much harder for the City and the Judge. A risky game. Too bad Chase isn't the only player.
IMHO City Manager Oliver isn't the Grinch here. I truly hope that in the long run, Chase is the guy to turn the property around. According to my sources, police calls to the property are way down. However, Ingersoll set a lot of people up for a very hard fall. These folks are not loaded with cash (or they wouldn't be living at the Grandview) and some are likely social services cases. The fact that such people are likely to be homeless during the holidays falls squarely on Ingersoll's shoulders.
