St. Pete’s long battle with the long-term stay Mosley Motel may soon be over. The embattled motel at the center of numerous nuisance abatement cases in St. Pete is set to be sold at auction January 29.
The motel’s owners reportedly owe HSBC Bank $6.27 million.
Despite public listings for an auction, unconfirmed tips from two anonymous sources hint the property may be obtained by owners of Skyline Fifth Apartments, a tower apartment home community directly behind the Mosley.
Even as the motel faces near certain closure after a four-year foreclosure battle, it still finds itself in hot water with the city of St. Pete. Just last week the city’s nuisance abatement board found reasonable cause to fine the motel for failing to meet provisions laid out in a previous hearing requiring the motel’s owners to implement certain security measures in order to cut back on the number of service calls to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
The city has been threatening temporary and permanent closures as well as imposing fines on the property dating back to 2011. The nuisance abatement board claimed the more than 100 properties owned by Mosley’s owner, Michael Shimshoni, were responsible for one-fifth of the fines issued for nuisance abatement.
The property caused so much trouble in areas surrounding it including the Historic Kenwood neighborhood, City Council member Amy Foster, a Kenwood resident herself, made it a top priority when she was elected.
The latest move by the nuisance abatement board included a vote to levy non-compliance fines on the property of $100 per day beginning December 8. As of last week’s vote, that total reached nearly $4,000 and continues to grow.
Any unpaid fines assessed on the property would become liens and whoever owns the property after the foreclosure is final would technically be responsible for them. While it seems likely the city would be cooperative with a new owner, particularly if they rid the city of the nuisance issues, it’s unclear whether or not the city would continue to pursue fines owed as a result of nuisance abatement board action.
The auction, if it goes forward, will be at 10 a.m.
