Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Lakeview's Troubled Chateau Hotel Could Get New Owner, Alderman Says

By Adeshina Emmanuel | December 7, 2012 3:48pm
 Hotel Chateau's owner, Jack Gore, is being sued by the city for building code violations. Ald. James Cappleman (46th) said the property could be getting a new owner.
Hotel Chateau's owner, Jack Gore, is being sued by the city for building code violations. Ald. James Cappleman (46th) said the property could be getting a new owner.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

UPTOWN — Ald. James Cappleman (46th) said that someone wants to buy the troubled Chateau Hotel — very soon.

"We should know something in a month or less," Cappleman said Thursday about the six-story, single-room occupancy hotel at 3838 N. Broadway St. in Lakeview. It has a troubled history filled with building code violations and negative perceptions from the surrounding community.

The alderman has pressured the owner to whip the property into shape since he entered office in 2011.

Cappleman was mum on specifics, including possible future uses for the hotel, and he would not say anything about the potential new owner.

But he had plenty to say about building's current owner, Jack Gore. Gore was a no-show Tuesday for a court date related to a city lawsuit aimed at pushing him to repair numerous building code violations.

"It is sounding like the owner is not liking all the frustration that comes with being a responsible business owner," Cappleman said. "I don't think he should be a building owner."

Gore could not be reached for comment.

Broken lights, busted doors and toilets, buckling walls, rodents and a shortage of exit signs are some of the problems inside the building, according to city inspectors.

Area business owners and residents have also complained about fighting, drug dealing, public drunkenness and panhandling outside the hotel.

The hotel is a source of affordable housing to many mental health patients, social services clients, people released from prison, and people who are staving off homelessness.

Gore is also the former owner of the now-defunct Diplomat Hotel in Lakeview. The city closed it down in 2009 because of building violations. Construction began this month to turn the hotel into single-room housing for people with mental illness.