Owner says demolition of Lehigh Motor Inn is coming

Upper Macungie Township supervisors have been waiting for years to hear that the rundown Lehigh Motor Inn will be demolished. Thursday night, the message was finally delivered.

Property owner Minu Desai told the board that demolition work at 5828 Memorial Road will begin as soon as PPL cuts all electrical lines to the property and asbestos removal has been completed and notice is posted to the state Department of Environment Protection.

Notice must be made by Monday, the date when the permit to complete the work expires.

Power has long since been shut off by PPL, but the actual electrical lines to the property need to be sliced, he said.

Once the lines are cut, “we start the next day,” said Desai, who estimated that demolition would take up to a month to finish.

The path forward after that should be clear to construct a 91-room, four-story Marriott Suites hotel measuring 14,000 square feet on the parcel, which faces Tilghman Street, along with a detached 7,500-square-foot restaurant with 210 tables.

“The plan hasn’t changed,” Desai said.

The township had grown impatient waiting for the rehabilitation of the blighted property, which Desai first proposed in 2016.

Since then the former motel has decayed, a worsening eyesore that has also blocked the township’s plan to reconfigure Memorial Road by extending it across the property.

The township in late July cited Desai for structural deficiencies and excessive trash, which triggered a hearing before the Building Board of Appeals on Aug. 26.

The township had given Desai key deadlines, including pulling a demolition permit within 45 days of the July date, beginning demolition within 60 days and finishing the job in six months, Community Development Director Daren Martocci said.

All buildings on the property will be removed except for the bookstore, he said, which will serve as a trailer during construction.

Desai was able to obtain a demolition permit, and secured a multipurpose contractor who will perform the job, along with asbestos remediation and construction, he said.

He has a pre-application for a building permit to construct the hotel, Martocci said.

Kevin Duffy is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.