NASHUA, NH (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Two Nashua motels are under city investigation after complaints about deplorable living conditions and frequent crime.
Tuesday night, Nashua town aldermen agreed to move forward with a resolution that will create a committee to investigate the Country Barn Motel and the Temple Street Hotel.
Alderman Jim Donchess told FOX25 even if investigators don't substantiate complaints made about the properties, city officials may still use the opportunity to update existing building codes to ensure better living conditions.
In September, the Country Barn Motel was featured on the Travel Channel's reality show "Hotel Impossible."
In the episode, host Anthony Melchorri found a heroin needle, bloodstains and evidence of bed bugs in some of the cabins that sit near the motel's main buildings.
But owner Tom Lavoie told FOX25 those cabins had not been cleaned in months, and that residents in the motel were living in buildings that were already under renovation.
"They definitely showed us in as bad of light as they could," Lavoie said. "They were making a television show. It's a successful show, and for them to do that they need to have a lot of drama in the situation."
Lavoie said he believed the show's publicity was what garnered attention from city officials, not complaints from any of his customers, many of whom have lived at the motel for years.
Lavoie said he is also spending tens of thousands of dollars to update more motel rooms, but that is he open to the city's push to make changes.
"As I've said to them, I've got nothing to hide and I am up for an open and honest discussion about it," Lavoie said.
At the Temple Street Hotel, a rooming house in downtown Nashua, residents told FOX25 there were issues with crime and bedbugs.
"It's an old building. There's holes in some of the walls and sometimes the bathrooms break down and stuff," said Ken Anderson, who's lived in the house for four years.
But Anderson said he's worried the city intervention to clean up the property will price him out of a place to live, noting it's one of the few places in Nashua where impoverished residents can find cheap rooms to rent.
"I don't want to see them go up on the rent," Anderson said. "I think it's a good place to stay."
Cox Media Group
