A court has approved the City of Riverside’s request to appoint a receiver to take control of the Riverside Inn & Suites, which has been the site of dozens of criminal acts and code violations.
The city has worked for years to document problems at the motel, located at 10705 Magnolia Avenue, near Polk Street. The ongoing “narcotic, criminal, and nuisance activity” at the motel “presents an ongoing danger to the occupants, surrounding community, and general public,” Deputy City Attorney Jacob Castrejon wrote in the court filings.
Without a receiver to manage and rehabilitate the property, “the extremely unsafe criminal and substandard conditions will continue,” Castrejon wrote. “The appointment of a receiver is necessary to prevent harm to the public both in the surrounding community and the city at large.”
According to the City of Riverside, offenses that have occurred at the motel for years include drug possession, sale, and usage, as well as assaults, prostitution, drug overdoses, assault and battery, including on a police officer, weapons violations, attempted murder, rape/sexual assault, and child endangerment.
“This property is well-known to law enforcement on the west end of our city,” Councilman Jim Perry said. “I am gratified to see two years of work result in the granting of a receivership that will begin turning this property around,” he said.
Documents show that code violations have gone unfixed, including building and safety violations, a lack of structural maintenance, substandard conditions, unpermitted construction, mold growth, cockroach infestation, and plumbing, fire and electrical violations. Code enforcement officers during the past 18 months found that very few, if any repairs were being made.
“The failure of the defendants to properly maintain the subject property has resulted in an unceasing flow of criminal activity at the motel and within its rooms as well,” Castrejon wrote. “The defendants’ failure has also resulted in a lack of structure maintenance, substandard facility conditions, unpermitted construction and/or modifications, feces and urine throughout the area.”
A court-appointed receiver will take complete control of the property, manage it, pay the expenses of the operation, including taxes, insurance, utilities, general maintenance, and debt secured by an interest in the property. The receiver will also hire licensed contractors to fix the structural problems.
