By NATE KING
Salina Post
At its regular Monday meeting this week, the Salina City Commission voted to demolish the 1616 West Crawford Street building, commonly called the Ambassador Hotel.
The hotel, which opened in the 1980s as the Holiday Inn Holidome and later became a Ramada before rebranding as the Ambassador, has faced years of neglect and safety violations. In July, city commissioners designated the building as a dangerous structure after a review by Dangerous Structure Specialist Sean Furbeck.
Click the link above to watch the live stream of the Salina City Commission Oct. 28 meeting.
The designation followed a history of violations, including unsecured entry points, structural deterioration, illegal fires, and use by vagrants. The city gave property owner Joshua Joseph two options: repair the building or proceed with its demolition.
Earlier this month, Joseph proposed a redevelopment plan to city commissioners and claimed to have secured $3 million in financing. City staff found the documentation provided by Joseph insufficient, as it did not meet the requirement for a binding loan commitment.
“We initially declared the structure dangerous and imposed deadlines, and those deadlines lapsed, which created the need for the show cause hearing in the first place,” said Salina City Manager Mike Schrage.
The commission opened the hearing on October 14, during which Joseph assured them he could provide documentation of funding the following day. Although Joseph submitted letters from Frontier State Bank, city staff determined the letters did not meet the requirements outlined by the commission.
"Financing was not the end-all, be-all. It was not a checkbox as much as it was a representation of progress on the part of Mr. Joseph to you [commissioners]," Schrage said. "The question before you and the purpose of this meeting starts with the presumption that you ordered the building dangerous and needing to be repaired or demolished by the owner by deadlines that have already passed. The question is, has the owner sufficiently shown cause as to why you should not proceed with demolishing the building as you indicated you would in the event that deadlines were not met."
At the Oct. 28 meeting, Joseph proposed an alternative plan: he would handle the building’s demolition himself if the city waived the estimated $200,000 in landfill tipping fees for disposing of the rubble.
Schrage reminded commissioners of the impacts of agreeing to waive the fees.
"The landfill operates as an enterprise fund. So if you [commissioners] chose to waive the tipping fees, that's lost revenue," Schrage said. "We would have to make an offset. My suggested offset would be a cash transaction transfer from the general fund to the landfill fund so that as we set fees, as we size cells and plan for the future development of landfill, that financially, our planning remains solid."
Commissioner Greg Lenkiewicz disapproved of waiving tipping fees for Joseph to demolish the building.
"I believe it's a mistake. I think it's going to set a precedent that's going to be a headache down the road. I'm philosophically opposed to it," Lenkiewicz said.
Commissioner Mike Hoppock expressed similar concerns.
"This building had sufficient time to be addressed, and I'm just not comfortable rewarding the fact that this building has been allowed to deteriorate," Hoppock said.
Mayor Longbine agreed with both commissioners.
Commissioners unanimously voted to approve the resolution and proceed with demolishing the building at the city’s direction, according to Kansas Statute 12-1755.
After completing the demolition, the city will bill the property owner for the costs.
"We'd finalize our costs. We would send a bill to the property owner. The property owner has the opportunity to pay it. If they don't pay it, it's then assessed as a lien against the property, which is like a tax lien," Schrage said. "If that lien remains unpaid, it can go to a 'Sheriff's Sale.' Then, depending on the outcome of that sale and what is bid on the property, that determines what reimbursement the city might receive."