Fayetteville's Prince Charles Hotel found unsafe for habitation

Fayetteville, N.C. — Firefighters evacuated Fayetteville's landmark Prince Charles Hotel Friday afternoon after discovering unsafe conditions inside, according to a statement from the city.

The hotel's owner and city officials have been at odds over a vinyl window he installed in the building.The city filed suit in May to compel John Chen to pay more than $45,000 in fines for the window which does not meet the standards for the historical building.

The hotel was ruled unsafe in December, and 70 tenants were moved out for three days while Chen brought it up to code.

At that time, Chen said the city overreacted to what he deemed minor violations. Inspectors also found that he had done demolition work inside without proper permits.

Firefighters inspecting the building Friday again found demolition going on in the upper floors without a permit. They were attempting to contact Chen, who recently moved back to New York City, where he owns a parking garage.

Chen has said the renovations he is making are part of a plan to transition the hotel, which rents rooms by the month, to condominiums.

"This is like a temporary arrangement while we do the condominium conversion," Chen said in December. "We still want the building occupied."

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The place was condemned by the fire department because the fire department was told to find enough stuff to close it. All over one replacement window that did not conform to "historical" standards. Excuse me?? This level of pettiness is normal for Fayetteville--embarassing but normal..

josephlawrence43
October 4, 2010 4:59 p.m.

Chen has had several violations,there are old disabled people living there and he has bad wiring and window units hanging out the windows

bmg379
October 4, 2010 10:46 a.m.

From the photo it looks beautiful, but so are many historical buildings and homes in Raleigh. They're also in awful shape. It's a shame, but takes lots of money to bring up to code, much less improve and update.

rdmcswai
October 1, 2010 7:55 p.m.

"The hotel was ruled unsafe in December, and 70 tenants were moved out for three days while Chen brought it up to code"

My question is if the building was up to code in December how can it be so unsafe now?

joedaplumber
October 1, 2010 7:48 p.m.

seankelly15 The city cannot afford to condemn because then they would own a so called historic landmark building which cant be torn down. The landmark status is why the city is complaining about a vinyl window.

joedaplumber
October 1, 2010 7:23 p.m.