The Springfield City Commission voted to demolish the former Villager Inn motel at a special meeting after the west wing of the motel was damaged by a fire on August 15.
In December of 2022, the city bought the Villager Inn on 1715 W. North St. for $1.7 million and the Executive Inn at 325 W Columbia St. for $2 million intending to redevelop the properties into short and long term housing facilities to address increasing homelessness.
“The big change is the number of families that have been displaced. A lot of the homeless population prior to COVID were single men, single women, maybe with a child or two,” Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said. “[During] COVID, we saw a huge spike in the number of displaced families.”
The 75-unit non-congregate Executive Inn was planned to be an emergency shelter. Earlier this year, the city had entered into an agreement with Dayton-based Homefull to manage the property. It began accepting families in late July though a plumbing issue at the building forced some families to move out in mid-August.
Shannon Meadows, Springfield’s community development director, said the agreement the city entered into with the nonprofit includes funding for repairs.
“The city owns the building, but our contract is for shelter operations and support. So there is funding in place for them to maintain and do what is necessary at the facility,” Meadows said.
According to Heck, The Villager was intended as long-term housing for unsheltered families but needed extensive renovations. After the fire and ongoing vandalism, which led to 18 police calls this year for "illegal activities," redeveloping the building became too expensive.
“The immediate need is to abate the public nuisance and then we'll evaluate what those next steps are,” Heck said. “And that always includes public comment and public input as we look to move forward and do what's best and what's right for our community.”
Springfield City Commissioner David Estrop said he’s disappointed the project can’t move forward.
“It's a gut shot in terms of our ability to help the families, but frankly, everyone facing homelessness,” Estrop said. “I think it was a good plan, a solid plan that was going to produce a lot of good for people in this community. And now it doesn't look like we're going to be able to move this forward as fast as we were hoping.”
A Springfield Fire division report found the fire began inside one of the rooms, though the cause is still unknown. No fatalities were reported.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
