Portion of troubled Fox Lake motel could reopen

One half of the troubled Marina Motel could reopen within days, Fox Lake officials said.

Mayor Ed Bender said the village police and building departments agreed to let motel owner Joseph Wulf reopen the north building at 123 S. Route 12, following an inspection Wednesday morning.

Depending on paperwork, Bender said, that portion of the troubled motel could reopen Saturday or Monday at the latest.

"Our inspectors walked through Wednesday and it seems like the work has been completed up to code," he said. "They still haven't finished work on the south building, but the north building is ready for occupancy."

The north building has eight of the motel's 16 units, Bender said and added it was important to the village's image that the motel to be cleaned up.

"I don't like to see any business shut down. But this building needed to be brought back to health and made safe," he said. "I was very concerned with the issues they had there. It needed to be fixed, not only for the sake of the owners but also for the sake of Fox Lake."

Attention was drawn to The Marina Motel after police discovered a disabled man living in squalor inside the facility in July. That discovery led to a surprise inspection by the building department, during which more than 60 life-safety and code violations were discovered.

The motel was allowed to remain open until Oct. 2, but Bender forced it to close after all of the code violations at the 35-year-old business were not fixed. A follow-up inspection Nov. 2 shuttered the business indefinitely until the repairs were made. Those repairs on the north building were completed this week, Bender said.