‘Putting up resistance’
New owner of iconic Arkansas hotel says city officials placing a burden on those ready to see it restored
The new owner of Arkansas’ largest hotel says efforts to close the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa aren’t hindering him and are instead placing a burden on those ready to see it restored.
Al Rajabi, CEO of Sky Capital Group, wrote on the hotel’s Facebook page that restoring the downtown fixture in Hot Springs will need the support of the community as well as local, state and federal officials.
“These threats of shutting us down aren’t hurting me,” Rajabi wrote. “They’re affecting the hard-working employees and hurting a community that’s excited to have its history preserved.”
Rajabi said that certain people, including city directors, are “putting up resistance,” with local officials objecting to meeting with him because they are “afraid of the backlash they may get.”
“I took the chance when no one else did by asking her to the prom to dance the night away,” the owner said of the hotel. “But when I showed up to pick her up, I had her father, brothers, cousins and the entire state there with shotguns.”
District 1 Director Suzanne Davidson, whose district includes the Arlington, told the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record that a requested one-on-one meeting with Rajabi did not seem like a good idea.
“I said I’d meet with him if senior staff goes along for technical support. They’re the ones with all the knowledge,” Davidson said.
None of the city’s elected officials had met with Rajabi as of Thursday, according to the newspaper.
“I’m not the problem. I’m the solution,” Rajabi said.
“I have yet to meet with a single city official of Hot Springs who has offered to provide any support or guidance for the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa,” he added.
The owner said his company is “very close” to awarding a contract for work on the most important stage of the renovation—stopping water penetration.
Forty-seven rooms that previously had been shuttered pending needed safety repairs passed inspection last week. Fixes to the building’s exterior are also needed before freezing weather could cause plaster to crack.
Architects George Richard Mann and Eugene J. Stern, under the name Mann and Stern, designed the Arlington, as well as the Hotel Grim in Texarkana, Texas; the Slattery Building and the Washington Hotel in Shreveport, La.; and the Quapaw and Ozark Bathhouses in Hot Springs, according to the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. More information can be found at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.