Medical Arts purchased; to become hotel
Local hotelier Parth Patel has purchased floors 1-15 of the mostly vacant Medical Arts building in downtown Hot Springs for $1,175,000, with plans to renovate it into a “high-end” hotel.
Having been looking to start a hotel project in the downtown area since 2007, Patel began working with Amber Henson in Urban Living and Development about three years ago to begin the process to purchase.
“I love history, I love old architecture, I love old buildings of historic nature, and in my opinion, if it’s able and if the building’s not gone structurally, I think every effort should be made to save these buildings,” he said, noting this building’s structure is “solid.”
In this renovation, nearly all of the interior of the building will be demolished.
“The entire layout of the building has to change, so it’s going from an office setting, essentially, to a hotel,” Patel said. “It won’t be a quick process, but from the day we start construction it’s going to take at least 18 months at the minimum.”
He hopes for the construction to start “as soon as possible,” but is unsure of the exact date.
This will be the seventh hotel Patel owns in the community through his family owned hotel management and development company, Vipa Hospitality. Other hotels include Home2 Suites by Hilton, Quality Inn by Choice Hotels, La Quinta Inn and Suites by Windham, Country Inn and Suites by Radisson, The Red Roof Inn and Motel 6.
The Medical Arts building had four simultaneous owners prior to his purchase; one owning the first floor, one owning floors 2-14, one owning the 15th floor and one owning the 16th floor. Patel said they were unable to secure ownership of the
16th floor due to no response from the owner, but are hopeful to acquire it in the future.
The first floor is currently occupied by Snazzies Inc. and Mamoo’s Paradice Cream. The owner gave the businesses a 30day eviction notice dated April
27, on Friday.
Snazzies, which is entering into its 16th year in the downtown area, will be relocating to
258 Central Ave., the previous location of the Spa City Tropical Winery & Gifts.
“Praise God I have a place to go, so I’m excited if Patel does a good job turning it into, what I heard, is into a hotel,” Snazzies owner Amy Sanders said.
“We’re excited about getting to stay downtown, because we’re a fixture down here,” Sanders said. “Lots to do, lots
of packing up to do — 16 years of Snazzies. … We’re praying for energy to get it all moved over.”
Mamoo’s, which is entering into its fourth year in the downtown area, hasn’t been as lucky in finding a place to relocate, but its owner remains hopeful something will come about in the weeks to come.
“We’re still trying to find our next location; we’re hoping to stay on Bathhouse Row, but everything seems to be either already sold out, or it’s going to cost a lot of money to get move-in ready,” Mamoo’s owner Hayden Ennis said.
“We just got done paying monthly rent for the winter, which is the slow time,” Ennis said, “and you always pay that so when summer shows up, that’s when you get the bread and butter. So it’s a rough time to try to find somewhere to move into.”
For any leads to a relocation space, he encourages people to reach out to Mamoo’s Facebook page, @mamooscreamery.
“We’ll find something,” he said. “It may not be exactly what we want, but we’ll get something at least temporarily.”