FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The large gray husks of two half-finished buildings near The Lakes Mall are starting to draw the curious.
“Never seen anything like this before around here,” said Joan Schmitt as she sat in her car outside the two buildings in the 1900 block of East Sternberg Road, east of Harvey Street.
They were supposed to be new motels. Instead, they stand to be torn down or repurposed as part of a strange legal drama.
A judge halted the work back in June after ruling developers of the motels violated a no compete clause in an agreement with the owner of the newly-renovated Delta by Marriott, located near thesite for downtown Muskegon’s new convention center.
Developer Jon Rooks bought the former downtown Muskegon Holiday Inn in 2013 from Detroit-area developer Stellar Hospitality LLC.
Because he’s planned to invest millions in the hotel, Rooks required the seller to agree to a no compete clause.
Under the stipulations, sellers couldn’t open a hotel in a 14-mile radius of the downtown hotel for 15 years — long enough for the Delta by Marriott to get established without the sellers turning around and becoming competitors.
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