Magnolia Corridor Motel Challenges Court Receivership Decision

An attorney for the owner of a motel on Magnolia Avenue said he would continue fighting a court order to assign a third-party agent to take control of the property, which the city called “substandard and hazardous.” 

“From a practical standpoint, the citizens are losing on this,” Frank Weiser, the motel owner’s attorney, said. “We’re wasting a lot of time and money in court when it could be resolved. My clients are willing to meet the city halfway and get it resolved.” 

Last week, the city announced it had successfully argued for a court-appointed receiver to manage and rehabilitate the Riverside Inn and Suites located within the Magnolia Avenue corridor. The city said the action came after years of attempting to address “narcotic, criminal and nuisance activity,” in and around the property, according to court filings, adding that the motel’s conditions have put the community in ongoing danger. 

As part of the court order, GS Strategies Inc. will manage the property, prepare a rehabilitation plan and potentially apply to the court to sell the property. The company was chosen by the city for the role.

“This will allow the city, not only to ensure that the safety of its residents and guests here at the Riverside Inn are ensured, but also the community as a whole,” Assistant City Attorney Jack Liu said in a video statement while standing in front of the property. 

Kevin Randolph, the receiver’s representative, said in an email to The Record the owner had filed an appeal, forcing the receiver to wait until after that appeal is dismissed or resolved to take action.

Weiser, in a phone call with The Record, said the owners of the motel denied the city’s characterization of the property. Instead, the owners said they have been operating under good business practices and that many of the police calls were for incidents occurring on the street that were attributed to the hotel. 

Public records obtained by The Riverside Record showed there had been more than a thousand calls for service over a two-and-a-half year period at the address. Former Ward 6 Councilmember Jim Perry said the city had previously invoiced the motels thousands of dollars each as a result of extraordinary police responses.

Even if the claims were true, Weiser said, he felt that the punishment of receivership was not proportional to the offenses. 

“It’s a sledgehammer approach, as I said, and they’re not doing it the way most cities have done it in the past,” Weiser said. “Give them a chance to remediate, if what you are saying is correct. See if they can remediate. If they can’t remediate, then you take the next step.” 

The city, in the filings, argued that the defendants failed to comply with multiple code enforcement notices and listed out three years of police reports. 

Court records also showed that Weiser submitted a “notice of filing an appeal” to the city the same day of the judge’s June 25 ruling. In that filing, Weiser said that he was already in the process of appealing a federal court’s decision made in March that sent the case back down to the Riverside County Superior Court, an action he said should have paused the case in the lower court.

“This receivership order is not proper,” Weiser said. “The court doesn’t have jurisdiction because of the fact that we have this pending now in the [U.S. Court of Appeals for the] Ninth Circuit, and eventually, if I have to, I’ll take it up to the U.S. Supreme Court on that issue.” 

Separately, Weiser has also appealed the receivership order.

The city attorney’s office declined to comment citing ongoing litigation, according to an email from Public Information Officer Phil Pitchford. 

Weiser added he met with the city last year when he proposed — and later agreed to — a settlement between the city and five motel owners, which included self-imposed conditions like added security and guest restrictions. He said the city rejected his acceptance of the offer but that he “may go into court and try to argue that [they] have a settlement anyway.”

In a court filing, the city said it had met with opposing counsel twice last year to issue notices of the ongoing conditions at the property but that the defendants had continued to allow “narcotic and criminal activity.” 

The strip of Magnolia Avenue between La Sierra Avenue and Harrison Street in Ward 6, commonly referred to as the Magnolia corridor, has long been identified by city officials as a hotspot for criminal activity and has become a growing gathering space for people experiencing homelessness. 

Perry, at his final council meeting, said his team had worked for years to address the ongoing concerns. He pointed to five motels in the area as major contributors and one of the city’s current targets for enforcement.

“Our city attorney’s office, in particular, has been working very diligently on a nuisance abatement order that could eventually lead to receivership of those properties,” Perry said at the June 23 council meeting. “Again it is those five motels and, before we even got to that process, our code enforcement and our fire and safety teams have gone out and actually done inspections on all of those properties.” 

Councilmember Luis Hernandez, who was sworn into office Tuesday, told The Record hours before his ceremony that he wished the business put in a greater effort to address its problems to avoid receivership. He added that he would look at communicating with the motel’s attorney in the future. 

“If they truly want to work together, we need to see some follow through,” Hernandez said. “If they’re willing to work with the city and actually show proof that they’re following through with what their commitments are, then maybe we can turn things around.”