Rendering courtesy of Ash Patel.
The property at 260 Oxmoor Road has plans to be developed into a storage facility with space for a restaurant or retail store.
After years of Homewood residents calling the 260 Oxmoor Road property an eyesore, the abandoned hotel will soon be demolished for the development of a storage facility and restaurant or retail space.
And although many residents say they didn’t originally want a storage facility on the property, those attending the June 28 City Council meeting showed support and expressed excitement for the redevelopment.
The Oxmoor Road property used to be an America’s Best Value Inn & Suites hotel. In 2014, The Homewood Star reported that the City Council decided not to renew the hotel’s business license because of criminal activity that took place there.
The Patels, who own the property, presented their plans to the Planning Commission at its April 7 meeting and requested to resurvey the lot into two parcels and then rezone the northern portion of the lot from GURD (Greensprings Urban Renewal District) to C-5 (General Business District).
The Planning Commission unanimously voted in favor of the recommendation for both the rezoning and the resurvey requests, and on June 28, the City Council unanimously approved the rezoning request, meaning the project can move forward.
“We’re happy that the outcome came out the way it did considering the amount of time it took to get to this point,” said Ash Patel in a statement. “This was a challenging two-and-a-half year process involving many conversations and meetings with city council members, officials and residents. We are pleased that our redevelopment plan is finally able to move forward in a positive direction.”
The Patels estimated the renovation process will take six or seven months.