If a Lake County judge is frustrated over the shell of a building that once was a cushy Ramada Inn, imagine how Waukegan residents feel about the boarded-up hulk on busy Green Bay Road.
They’ve been wondering for months when the once-flourishing hotel will come down. Because that’s about the only choice for the current owners or whoever decides to purchase the eyesore.
Currently, it is a blemish on the city.
The unsolved homicides of two apparent squatters last fall were the last straw for city officials. They finally filed suit to raze the structure, which has been shuttered since 2018.
During their first appearance in court, owners of the site were ordered by Lake County Associate Judge Daniel Jasica to install a “security” fence on the property’s perimeter. That charming chain-link fence — which went up in November — surely says, “Welcome to Waukegan.”
The fence did little to stop clever squatters from climbing inside for temporary shelter. Back before Jasica last week, owners sought a continuation, with their attorney pleading they are close to selling it. If not sold, they will wreck the old hotel, he told the judge.
Jasica, a veteran Lake County assistant state’s attorney before he was elevated to the bench in 2014, said 24-hour security is needed at the site and, if not, the multiple buildings surely will be coming down. Whenever that is won’t be soon enough for Mayor Ann Taylor.
She told The News-Sun’s Steve Sadin in a front-page story on May 13: “I don’t care if they demolish it, or we have to exercise our rights to demolish it.” Her constituents certainly agree with that.
Adding to the distress at the site was a fire on May 1 at one of five buildings at the abandoned hotel, at 200 N. Green Bay Road, near Brookside Avenue. Waukegan firefighters, aided by five other departments, battled the blaze, which authorities believe was intentionally set.
The fire was the second at the hotel, which flourished in the 1970s and ‘80s. A February 2022 fire broke out on the inn’s second floor and was struck by Waukegan firefighters.
Odds are if the hotel isn’t razed, there will be other conflagrations which will put firefighters at risk. One was injured battling the most recent fire.
The site has a history of falling victim to various calamities. They have ranged from fires, to homicides, to shootings, to squatters, to burst water pipes.
The hotel, replete with graffiti covering some parts, has been cited repeatedly by Waukegan building inspectors and fined accordingly. It is unclear if the city has collected any of the money from red-tagging the buildings.
The growing disgrace has been trouble for Waukegan as drifters continue to figure out ways to enter the buildings. The site has limited accouterments a hotel needs in deserted rooms. Some even remain furnished with beds.
Who wouldn’t want to stay there if they had no other place to go? Even with police booting squatters from the property, they sneak back in. Don’t the city’s cops have enough to do instead of babysitting an abandoned hotel?
Authorities say they discovered evidence that the recent fire was set intentionally. Looking at the blighted building reminds one of the famous Bette Davis line in the little-known 1949 movie “Beyond the Forest”: “What a dump!”
Because that’s what it is in its current state of fire-damaged disrepair. Several proposals over the years to transform the abandoned site into apartments or senior citizen housing have failed to go beyond drawing-board concepts.
Which is too bad. It’s a good location on one of Waukegan’s thriving avenues of enterprise.
Surrounded by successful auto dealers, mini-malls and burgeoning apartment complexes, the property could be turned into something useful and better looking. Most would agree that anything would be an improvement over what is standing today.
But first it needs to be wrecked and its remains carted off. Until that happens, the old hotel will stick in the craw of city officials and residents as a scar on Waukegan’s landscape.
Once it is torn down, city officials can plan accordingly for what comes next.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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