MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County has halted renovations at the former Crowne Plaza hotel.
We reported last month that the owner is putting the hotel up for sale. Millions of dollars worth of construction has been underway.
Now, county officials allege that recent work to the building was happening under the radar.
It was just three weeks ago that we got a tour of the millions of dollars worth of renovations to this 16-story and 298-room hotel on First Street in downtown.
"Every inch of this property has been touched," Sangha said.
Ruby Sangha, the Canadian businessman who's owned the building since 2014, told us that day that he's poured at least $12.5 million into renovations -- from electrical and plumbing to crown molding and paint.
But that interview caught the eye of county officials and inspectors who say the owner does not get the permits he needed before that work started.
"They visited the site on a couple occasions and noticed some work had been done. Some materials are stored," Miller said.
"We went around to look at the building. We made the determination that work was happening without a permit," Wilkins said.
Two days after our story aired, Sept. 1, the county issued a stop work order. The order is still posted on the building's front door.
Chief Building Inspector Don Wilkins says his inspectors couldn't get access to the building to see the construction but it was clear just looking through the window that renovations were underway without a county permit.
According to the county's building division, they've issued six work permits for the former hotel since 2015 with the most recent two being in 2018, but all of those permits have expired.
"There was no work being done without a permit," Sangha said.
He says there is no work happening now and even before without a permit. But Sangha also said this: "There was substantial work done in 2018, 2019, and part of 2020. But there is no work done since September 2020," Sangha told 13 WMAZ over the phone Monday.
However, he claims that since the last permit expired that it has only been renovations like painting.
Wilkins says there's been no inspection on the work since at least March 2020 and possibly even before. The county's building division can't say for sure how far back since there were poor records kept before a third party, SafeBuilt, took over.
"It's one thing to have a bad business plan. It's another thing to do millions of dollars of work and not get the proper inspections done because that's a safety issue for our citizens," Miller said.
So now, the building is done what it has been doing off, and on now for nearly a decade--sitting vacant. Miller says the county is not looking to step in to develop the building, but he's got an idea what should be done.
"The building is an extreme eyesore," Miller said. "The best case scenario for this building may be to appear in some kind of film an explosion where it's leveled out."
Wilkins says they are still waiting on owner Ruby Sangha to respond to their stop work order. He says for a project this size, it would take up to 10 business days to get a work permit.
Wilkins says the fine is $500 for not getting a work permit.