$7 million arts center to replace Provo motel

PROVO — Next month, there will be no rooms at Provo's Travelers Inn.

Literally.

There will be plenty of space, however, for Provo's new $7 million performing arts center, thanks to a settlement between the city and inn owner Bob Patel.

Patel agreed Tuesday to vacate his motel, which will be torn down to make room for the arts center about 450 W. Center. Patel will stop renting rooms on Tuesday and leave the motel, where he lives with his wife and three children, during the first week of May.

The settlement is expected to help Provo narrowly avert a $30,000 penalty for missing a deadline to hand over the land to construction crews. The city is already in the penalty phase, Mayor Lewis Billings said, but the contractor agreed to do other work on the city's former library, which is being converted into the arts center and expanded onto motel land.

Provo sued for occupancy in March, and court proceedings would have made avoiding penalties increasingly difficult.

"The law allows Mr. Patel 90 days from the day we filed for occupancy before we could have gotten possession," Provo deputy city attorney David Dixon said. "That would have put us into June, which would have been a delay of at least another month beyond this agreement."

Terms of Tuesday's agreement were not disclosed, and it settled only the question of whether Provo would obtain the land, which the city sought to take through the power of eminent domain.

The sides still could wind up in court, with a judge or jury determining how much Provo will pay Patel. Patel seeks more than $1.25 million. Provo offered $875,000.

Patel is involved in three other motels in Utah Valley, so he won't be homeless, a condition many residents of the Travelers Inn have known. The inn is used by local relief organizations and churches that help displaced persons make transitions. That's why Patel has a week before he stops taking reservations.

"I have to take care of these people first, the city second," he said. "We'll find them another place to go. I cannot throw them out on the street."

Patel's attorney, Dayle Jeffs, filed court documents last month contesting Provo's right to seize the hotel. Utah law allows cities to use eminent domain only if they prove the land is necessary for public use.