GREENWOOD, Ind. — The owner of a troubled hotel in Greenwood now has 10 days to comply with orders to make needed improvements to the building.
The city had previously ordered residents vacate the Red Carpet Inn and Fanta Suites in October, following reports from the city of mold, sewage, cockroaches and disabled smoke alarms inside the facility.
Sixteen hours after Greenwood shut down the troubled Red Carpet Inn and Fanta Suites, 13News went room by room with the city, fire marshal and police as they enforced the order to vacate, making sure guests, workers and people who live at the hotel are gone.
What we witnessed inside was part of what caused the hotel's closure in the first place: cockroaches, open electrical sockets, and disabled smoke alarms.
City leaders said during Monday evening's planning commission meeting that it is past due for the owners to make improvements and are now taking action, voting unanimously to give the owners a 10-day period to bring the long-troubled building into compliance.
Officials also said during the planning commission meeting that the hotel's owner, Ahmed Mubarak, may have to pay a fine of up to $5,000 for willfully failing to comply with the city's original order to make these safety improvements.
Last month, Mubarak told 13News he's made fixes and that Greenwood has treated him unfairly during the order to vacate process.
"It needs some maintenance, yes, but we are trying and if anybody goes through the property now, he or she will see that things are coming on spec," Mubarak said. "People here feel safe. No unsanitary or unhealthy conditions, and the ultimate judge of any operation of any hotel stay is the guest, is not the health inspector."