An abandoned Hampton Inn at Route 72 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Rapho Township is up for tax sale in an online auction that closes Sept. 16 even as a potential buyer has plans before the township that could revitalize the building. 

The hotel on 10.5 acres has been unused since at least November 2021. 

The fixed price for the four-story, 95-room hotel at 2764 Lebanon Road is $195,200. The auction will close Sept. 16 at 7:23 p.m. An upset sale can be stayed if the owner or any lien creditor enters into a sale agreement with the Lancaster County Tax Claim Bureau before the sale. The owner or lien creditor must be willing to pay 25% of the amount due on all tax claims and tax judgements plus interest within a year.

Meanwhile, the county redevelopment authority is continuing the process to ensure the blighted property is remediated, said Executive Director Justin Eby.  The Vacant Property Reinvestment Board voted to refer the property to be appraised, a step in acquiring the property through eminent domain. Even if it is purchased, Ebay and Sean Frumke, community development program manager, said the authority’s job is to ensure blighted property is redeveloped. 

The property continues to have break-ins and vandalism, according to Vacant Property Reinvestment Board meeting minutes. 

Last month, Rapho Township added a second lien on the property for $4,538 to cover expenses securing the property. Township Manager Randall O. Wenger said the township most recently had to board up second floor windows that were broken. The township also filed a lien last May for $4,290 for expenses to secure the property.

Lancaster County tax records show hotel owner Shree Punit LLC owes nearly $200,000 for unpaid taxes since 2022. There are  $86,044 owed for 2023 and $90,571 for 2022. There is a $10 million mortgage on the property through M&T Bank. 

A potential buyer seeks to solve sewage problems

A potential buyer is attempting to address the problem that contributed to the hotel’s abandonment – lack of sewage treatment. 

On Monday, the township planning commission will likely consider a holding tank plan for the property submitted by Shakher Patel, a manager/operator of Destiny Builders & Management, which is seeking to purchase the property. Destiny owns two hotels in the county and announced building a third in Manheim Township two years ago. Destiny owns the 90-room Avid Hotel at 2151 E. Lincoln Highway in East Lampeter Township and the 60-room Tru by Hilton Denver at 400 N. Reamstown Road in East Cocalico Township.

The holding tank would be under ground and would be a temporary fix for the hotel’s sewer problems, according to Wenger and Eby. Sewer service has long been a problem for the hotel. 

The hotel had been operated by Shree Punit LLC since 2007. Shree Punit is one of many hotel companies operated by a Bucks County couple, Urit and Parkash Bhoola. The Bhoolas defaulted on more than $9 million in loans in 2021 and  the property was put in a court-appointed receivership. Nothing has been done since to repair the building. 

A court-appointed receiver,  MHPA Associates LLC, said the damage and disrepair made it clear operating a hotel would be difficult. A major issue was the fact that the property did not have access to a sewage treatment system. 

“The property can not be made economically viable without investing substantial resources and funds, which M&T is not prepared to contribute,” the receiver wrote.

When the hotel was built in 1999 by Willow Valley Associates, it did not have a public or on-site sewage disposal. Instead, the hotel sent sewage to a treatment facility at nearby Mount Hope Estate and Winery, home to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.

In 2017, a dispute arose over the sewage arrangement with Mazza Vineyards Inc., which is the owner of Mount Hope. A 2018 court decision broke that contract and left Shree Punit without sewage treatment.  

The receiver said sewage from the building flowed to a collection pit and then was pumped into a holding tank until it was removed from the property. 

The township has started the process of updating its sewage plan, which could include bringing public sewers from Manheim Borough through the Route 72 corridor to the hotel but that will likely take years to be approved and funded. 

The township submitted a plan in 2019 to the state Department of Environmental Protection, allowing the hotel to construct a private treatment facility to handle its wastewater, but the former hotel owners objected to the plan, arguing it would be cost-prohibitive.

Notice problems? Email the Lancaster Watchdog at watchdog@lnpnews.com, or go to LancasterOnline.com/watchdog and tell us about it.

Newsletter

What to Read Next

Tags