[September 09, 2011] Ascot Inn uptown bites the dust Tweet Sep 09, 2011 (The Charlotte Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It was one of Charlotte's most incongruous buildings: an aging two-story motel with a billboard advertising rooms with heart-shaped jacuzzis, superimposed against the city's skyline of bank towers and sleek new museums. The 38-year-old Ascot Inn fell to a wrecking crew Thursday, as workers demolished the uptown Charlotte motel on South Tryon Street, just outside the Interstate 277 loop. But the demise of the 43-room motel next to the Uptown Cabaret gentlemen's club was marked by confusion. Contacted by phone Thursday afternoon about the demolition, owner Ashok Patel responded: "It's being torn down?" Patel is president of Oscar Investors Management Corp., the Boone-based company listed in county records as owning the land and structure. He told the Observer he had been leasing the structure to tenants for years. "I have to check on some things," Patel said. "I'll call you back." Patel later said he had talked with Brian Dominick, owner of Uptown Cabaret, who has been leasing the Ascot Inn property from Patel for six years. The property was valued at $1.7 million in the county revaluation this year. County permit records show that Morehead Tryon Properties, an N.C. corporation of which Dominick is the manager, took out the demolition permit early this month. The estimated cost of razing the building was $32,755. The county official listed on the permit couldn't be reached by phone Thursday afternoon. "I wasn't aware they were actually knocking it down," Patel said. But he added that Dominick had been given the choice of razing the structure, and Patel said, "That's fine by me." Patel said that Dominick's lease has four more years on it, at the end of which he will have the option of buying the land outright. "I believe, based on what's happened, Brian will be taking that option," Patel said. Dominick did not immediately return calls Thursday evening. What Dominick will do with the property wasn't known Thursday. A construction worker at the site said he'd heard the site would be left vacant and possibly used for parking, like much of the nearby land. Dominick recently brought a new restaurant, the Midnight Diner, to an adjoining tract at South Tryon Street and East Carson Boulevard. The motel sat on a stretch of Tryon between the trendy South End and uptown's newest museums and the Duke Energy Center tower. The Ascot Inn's website, still active Thursday, said the motel offered "unique and exclusive suites." They included rooms decked out in Hawaiian decor with red jacuzzis in the shape of hearts, as well as mirrored canopies for the waterbeds and mirrored walls. One featured "a mirror ball in the center of the room that reflects different colored lights," and other amenities such as adult movies and free champagne. Waterbed-equipped suites started at the weekday rate of $59.99 or the weekend rate of $69.99 a night. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington provided a list of crimes reported within 1,000 feet of the motel over the past year. They include 51 larcenies from auto, 24 assaults, 11 marijuana possessions, eight auto thefts, four armed robberies and four burglaries. CMPD Capt. Jeff Estes, who supervises the department's Central Division, said the motel hadn't risen to the level of a "huge nuisance." But, he added that tearing down the Ascot Inn could be a positive for the area. "We certainly don't oppose the demolition," Estes said. Patel said that he's confident the land will go to better use now that the Ascot Inn is gone. "It's one of the nicest pieces of properties in Charlotte," Patel said. "It just needs someone to redevelop it." Observer staff researcher Maria David and staff writer Meghan Cooke contributed ___ (c)2011 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) Visit The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) at www.charlotteobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]