Local motel may serve new purpose

CELINA - The Motel Celina has been a downtown presence for 60 years, but under new ownership, it may find new life as an apartment complex.

The motel was built in 1958 by William Brown Jr. and his wife, Jean, according to the Mercer County Historical Society. The original building had 13 units plus housing for the Browns, but the family continued to expand the business until 1972, when the motel reached its peak with 35 units.

The structure though, has steadily fallen into disrepair. Owner Muhammad Khokhar, who bought the property in July 2017, said the previous owners had been hindered by financial restraints that ultimately doomed the motel.

Khokhar is a hotel business veteran and owns several facilities across the Midwest from Celina to South Dakota. When the previous owners started to face financial troubles, he said, they had less money to reinvest into the property, meaning conditions were less up-to-date and guests started to choose other lodgings.

The original financial problems were exacerbated as the guest list dwindled. So conditions deteriorated and a vicious cycle began. The business had sunk to the point of having only guests who didn't mind the very cheap overnight lodgings or who had no other choice because other hotels were booked full, Khokhar said.

The owners had been trying to sell the property for some time before Khokhar had come to view it before buying it in July 2017. The motel by then had changed since its peak. It no longer had 35 rooms, and their sizes varied as some had been merged. Khokhar pointed out room 114, which had been merged with two neighboring rooms, as an example. Still, Khokhar saw possibilities.

At first, he thought the property could be transformed into student housing. The downtown location would have put students near a few local restaurants and stores and relatively near Wright State University-Lake Campus. He offered to fix up the rooms, but when Khokhar approached Lake Campus officials, they showed no interest in referring to the property as student housing, he said.

Still, the old motel could help fill the dire need for housing, especially for rental properties, in the area, Khokhar said. In the months since he has purchased the property, he has done minor work to refurbish some rooms.

He said he wants to rent out the spaces to people in "true need" as a form of interim housing.

Khokhar said the hotel could become a good resource for those who have fallen on hard times or retirees on fixed incomes who can't afford to rent houses or apartments elsewhere.

He will require renters to have a statement from police that proves they have no drug or violent offenses on their record. Otherwise, the units are open to tenants.

Khokhar eventually wants to renovate the rooms further from their basic hotel room setup. By knocking out the wall between two single rooms, he said he could turn the bathroom of one room into a kitchen, giving the new space a bedroom, a larger living space, a bathroom and a place to cook meals. Those plans are contingent upon a rezoning of the property and a steady cash flow from other tenants, though.

If the property isn't properly rezoned to become an apartment complex, Khokhar said he may have to put the site up for sale again. He had to give up the hotel license for the property in his efforts to transform it into an apartment complex and isn't interested in operating it as a hotel again. The summer hotel season may be busy, he said, but the area doesn't get enough business in the winter for the hotels already here.

"Obviously shutting down would not be the most desirable option," Khokhar said.

With some money already invested in the property, he wants to see that investment pay off. He said he also can't imagine closing down the place again would be good for the city either. The property had been for sale for nearly a decade before he bought it, and the building could sit empty for a long time before another buyer picks it up.