Warwick, RI — The owner of the Warwick Motel 6 building is selling the 20 Jefferson Blvd. property, asking $4 million for the spot that earned local notoriety for regular reports of criminal activity.
Motel 6’s lease of the property is nearing its expiration, and the company is not expected to exercise their right of first refusal to renew it, according to the listing.
Following a March 2015 raid of a meth lab operating at the Warwick Motel 6, motel executives, Warwick Police and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian worked to curb crime at the location. The cooperation included a short-lived agreement between the motel and Warwick Police to provide the police with the motel’s guest lists. Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney ended the practice, citing concerns for the privacy of law-abiding guests.
But despite many public displays of intense police scrutiny of the area during the last several months, the location has remained a routine source of arrests, with one woman arrested there in September for stealing a rental car and a man arrested by RI State Police earlier this month for possession and sale of synthetic marijuana.
The property is listed at commercial real estate listing website loopnet.com. According to the listing, the building boasts 71,580 square feet on a 5.61 acre lot. The building includes the 121-room motel and the adjacent Brazilian restaurant Gauchos Do Brazil.
Warwick City records assess the property, including the buildings, at $1,053,000, with the land valued at $701,000 and the improvements/buildings valued at $352,000. The property is owned by Coastal Holdings Warwick LLC, incorporated at 4 Corporate Plaza Dr., #102 Newport Beach, CA, according to Dunn & Bradstreet. Felicity A. Sodaro is listed as the sole employee.
A statement on the status of the hotel from Mayor Scott Avedisian’s office notes that though the property is for sale, Motel 6 is “continuing their operations for now.”
As to the future owners of the site, “We are excited for potential new ownership of the Motel 6 on Jefferson Blvd,” Avedesian said, “With its proximity to the intermodal, and as the hotel rooms in Warwick continually book-up during our peak season, we look forward to seeing the motel become another viable lodging option for visitors to Warwick and Rhode Island.”
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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