Bel-Aire Motel will be gone by summer

The owners of the troubled Bel-Aire Motel in Springfield, Illinois, reached a settlement agreement this week with the city to vacate and tear down the historic structure within six months, reported the State Journal-Register.

The decrepit and crime-infested motel had racked up more than 1,000 code violations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines over the years. The family will keep ownership of the land and can sell it once the building is demolished. The owners remain responsible for demolition costs and asbestos removal.

Owner Gopal Motwani of Florida had long fought the city and put the motel up for sale for $750,000 (with no takers). His fight came to an end abruptly in September when he died. It’s now clear Motwani’s surviving family had no stomach in continuing the battle.

The Bel-Aire is known for its retro neon sign and Sputnik structure on its roof. The newspaper’s story gave no sign what would happen to either feature.

The Illinois Times in June published a detailed story about the Bel-Aire, its now-dead owner and the motel’s residents. The motel’s impending doom came not as a surprise, but it still will affect its low-income residents:

Karen Fliger, who lives with Fite at the Bel-Aire, says she lost her job but was able to find work in the Bel-Aire office.

“That’s the only thing that’s keeping a roof over our heads,” Fliger said. “I have no other income. If this closes down, we’re homeless.”

The city a few years ago proposed buying the motel and converting it into a Route 66 tourism center or museum. But the city lacked the money, and the idea was quietly dropped. Mayor Timothy Davlin, who championed the idea, later committed suicide in 2010.

Charles Ciesler built the motel in 1949 or 1950 along Sixth Street (aka Route 66) as a small group of cabins, then expanded from there. Ciesler’s surviving relatives told the State Journal-Register the property started to decline almost immediately after it was purchased by Motwani in 1986.

Since the idea for a Route 66 visitors center there obviously is by the wayside, perhaps Springfield will buy Shea’s Route 66 gas-station museum for that purpose instead.

(Image of the Bel-Aire Motel by Mike Garofalo via Flickr)

2 thoughts on “Bel-Aire Motel will be gone by summer

  1. It is a shame that the iconic place to stay is going away. I think it would be awesome if whoever is going to buy the place fixes it up and opens the motel again. Even if it was under a different name, it would be awesome to have it on the famous route 66.

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