Burnt structure of former hotel lingers in Petoskey after 144 days

EMMET COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- For 144 days, it has sat there.

A fire caused heavy damage at Americas Best Value Inn in Petoskey on May 3.

Now, more than four months later, the future for the building and the property is still being figured out.

"Obviously coming into town whether you are a local or resort people coming into the area we are kind of known for our lakes our scenes our views,” Sunrise Electronics and Security President Don Schreiber said. “I'm sure that it is not the best impression as people roll into the area."

It isn't pretty.

The burned corpse of the America's Best Value Inn building still stands on the corner of US-131 and Sheridan Road in Petoskey.

It’s a sight area businesses and others have to look at every day.

"In the summer when everybody is coming up to stay there's nowhere for them to stay as close,” Server and Bartender at JR's Grill and Pub Alyssa Roat said. “That brought us a lot of business. But the appearance brings no issue at all there's just that there isn't anybody right across the street."

The Petoskey building inspector said the property isn't a safety hazard as long as the owner keeps it compliant with code, which he has done so far.

Northern A1 Services in Kalkaska received a permit to demolish the property.

As far as why it took so long for demolition, almost five months and what the future plans are for the property, we don’t know.

We called the owner multiple times but he has yet to return those calls.

"I'm sure as well as us people are going to be pretty happy in the area to see whatever the future of the property happens to be,” Schreiber said. “Whether they decide to build, at least it will be cleaned up and kind of move forward with the area."

The building is set to be demolished the week of October 1.

Petoskey's Public Safety Department said the city has not had any problems with trespassing on the property.

Northern A-1 services out of Kalkaska finally finished demolishing the America's Best Value Inn building in late October.