No Demo for Ex-Holiday Inn Motel

A Spring 2013 view

It was great news that the collection of abandoned buildings most recently known as Mackenzie Woods Apartments (located on the south side of U. S. Route 6 a little west of Baumhart Road) was going to see new life as housing for Road to Hope House Inc. substance abuse recovery program participants. The complex will also be the new home of Road to Hope's administrative offices, which will be relocated from Elyria.

Here is the link to the story on the Chronicle-Telegram's website.

The buildings have been an eyesore for some time after the apartments closed. It was only in the last few months or so that "No Trespassing" signs were finally posted at the entrance to the property, along with a rope barrier.

Today, only the former main office building is visible from the highway.

A view from this week

What was surprising to me is that none of the local newspapers delved into the history of the property, which I wrote about back here in a four-part series. It began as the Holiday Inn Motel, constructed in the late 1940s by Frank Konik, with a same-named restaurant right next door to the west.

Here’s a vintage postcard of the motel in its heyday.

The motel was ideally situated to take advantage of the lodging needs of the hundreds of out-of-town construction workers building the Ford plant, as well as the auto workers who relocated to come work at the plant. By that time in the 1950s, Richard (Dick) Konik was running the motel. He provided a great interview to the Chronicle in 1957.

My original blog series on the Holiday Inn was one of my all-time favorites, as many members of the Konik family participated by leaving wonderful reminisces in the “Comments” section and helping to flesh out the story.

And strangely enough, I received a nice email a month or two ago by a granddaughter of Frank Kelsey, who owned and operated the Holiday Inn Restaurant next door to the motel for a time. He also ran McGarvey's for a few years in the 1940s.

Anyway, it's always nice to see an old motel that served as a highway oasis repurposed, rather than demolished. The buildings are being restored to their original function, that of providing comfort, and that’s a refreshing concept for Lorain County.