With a partly burned exterior, abandoned shopping carts and random furniture scattered out front plus a mattress hanging over a balcony, Hotel O stands as an eyesore on the West Frontage Road of I-55 North near Northside Drive.
It’s more than just unsightly, but a danger and has been declared condemned.
Locke Ward, a Realtor who took it upon himself to raise money for cleaning the I-55 frontage roads from County Line Road to Lakeland Drive, including the stretch in front of Hotel O, is among Jackson residents who want the hotel torn down.
“It’s the worst thing we have going in Jackson,” he said.
The LeFleur East Business Improvement District, which supports a beautification effort along the I-55 frontage roads, would also like for the hotel to go.
“Our board sent a letter to that effect to Chloe Dotson, who was then the director of the city of Jackson Planning and Development, in February, requesting that something be done and offering our support for that effort,” said Warren Speed, chair of the LeFleur East Business Improvement District.
Here’s a brief version of the events that transpired:
The city of Jackson began investigating the hotel in November 2021. The case landed in Municipal Court and the owner was found guilty of numerous violations of the city’s environmental code. A Municipal Court judge gave the owner numerous opportunities to bring the hotel into compliance or tear it down.
The judge, who eventually grew disgusted by the lack of improvements after giving the hotel owner time to make them, ordered the hotel be demolished. The judge issued an arrest warrant for the owner who failed to show up for a hearing and the owner remains on the lam, running from the law.
In December 2022, multiple provisions of the International Property Maintenance Code, adopted by the City of Jackson’s Code of Ordinances, including structural and foundation weaknesses, unsafe electrical wiring, improper mechanical systems, defective plumbing and damaged roofing, were cited at Hotel O.
Mold was prevalent throughout the property, an empty pool on the property was said to be an unenclosed, deep hole in the ground and trash and debris littered the site. Extension cords were discovered in several areas of the hotel, some of which were in contact with water.
Noah Ali Mohamed Muthana, the owner of the hotel, was found guilty of multiple violations at the hotel of the city’s environmental codes.
On Feb. 23, 2023, Muthana was ordered to go through the city’s site plan review process and erect a proper fence around the hotel’s unenclosed pool to help prevent someone from falling into the hole.
After Muthana overlooked a 45-day deadline to submit a site plan to the city about how to refurbish the hotel, he received 45 more days to go through the process.
A March 14, 2023 status conference revealed that Muthana did not go through the site plan review process, although he and two helpers did erect a fence around the hotel’s empty pool. Muthana admitted at that time that people were still living at Hotel O, despite the fire marshal shutting down the property more than a year earlier because it was a fire hazard.
On March 17, 2023, Jackson Municipal Court Judge Jeffery P. Reynolds ordered the owner of the hotel at 4639 I-55 North to demolish it.
On Jan. 9, Muthana skipped a court hearing about the hotel and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was given 88 days to serve in jail for failure to follow Reynolds’ order to demolish the hotel to the reasonable satisfaction of the city. He is on the lam, a fugitive from the law.
In January, the hotel was said to be occupied by nearly a dozen people, including one who said he was a caretaker for the property and had turned it into a shelter to help people in need.
Ibrahim Khoder, the mortgage holder, is under felony arrest for perjury for lying under oath in a Chancery Court lawsuit he filed, falsely claiming under oath that he owned the hotel, not Muthana. In Reynolds’ court, he testified truthfully that he does not own the hotel, he only holds a mortgage on it.
Anyone with information about the location or whereabouts of Muthana, a 21-year-old male who is 5-feet, 6-inches tall, is asked to contact the Jackson Police Department. His last known residential and work addresses are: 6 Pear Orchard Park, Jackson, a residence; 12567 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Fast Lane Gas Station; 912 Broadmoor Circle, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a residence; and Houston Pure Hands, LL, 6714 Miller Shadow Lane, Sugar Land, Texas, a foster care agency.
