The deal fell apart over parking.
Last year, Moody on the Market reported that Mary’s Fireproof Hotel in downtown Benton Harbor was under contract by a company that has significant hotel holdings across the Midwest. While the deal was in place for the purchase of the building, the lack of connected parking became a major stumbling block that is blamed for killing the deal.
Chris Siriano is the real estate broker who has been working to sell the property at 93 West Wall Street in Benton Harbor. He said Mahesh (Mike) Patel, part of a hotel development company and partner with Choice Hotels, had a vision for the property that included retail space and a boutique, luxury hotel.
After Patel brought in a stream of architects, environmental planners, and hotel executives to tour the property and return ideas and plans, the lack of parking became a recurring point of concern.
“(Mike) wanted the sellers to give him the adjoining parking lot for free. And from day one, he knew that adjoining parking lot was extra money. And he didn’t understand why, but he knew it. So we negotiated.”
Siriano said he and Patel negotiated with the city of Benton Harbor to use the two parking lots to the west and south, “for pennies.” But because Patel was a part of a Choice Hotels chain, he asked company executives if a plan for nearby parking would suffice.
“They wanted him to have an attached parking lot because Choice Hotels would be on the line, liability-wise, if somebody walked across the street to get their luggage or a little kid out of a car and tried to come across the street, got ran over, they would be liable,” said Siriano.
“I tried my hardest to get the seller to agree to be super reasonable with that. It didn’t happen. And in the end, I think he was months away from grant money and he just walked. He just got frustrated and walked. So the the hotel will be going back on the market.”
Siriano pointed to hotels in practically all major cities that do not have on-site parking, and said it isn’t an issue.
Asked whether the deal is dead-beyond-revival, Siriano remained optomistic.
“I don’t know. It’s frustrating. I’m going to go back to him. (Patel) loves that place. He was dealing with (family health) issues. So I think that had something to do with him just saying, ‘Okay, I’m done.’ But he wanted it to be the jewel (of downtown Benton Harbor).”
Siriano said unless something changes, the hotel will be back on the market for sale in April.
