Louisville Manor Motel remains open as it appeals order to vacate, despite 200+ police calls

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Shively motel remains open after filing an appeal against a city order to vacate, despite police reporting more than 200 calls for service to the property this year.

The Louisville Manor Motel, located on Dixie Highway, was recently ordered to close by the Louisville Department of Codes & Regulations. However, the motel filed an appeal within the given timeframe. That means the motel is still open and operating per usual and its closure is now dependent on the outcome of an upcoming hearing.

Shively Police Sgt. Jordan Brown said there have been a wide range of calls for police to come to the property this year.

"The calls run the gamut of essentially anything you can imagine," Brown said. "Everything from run of the mill drug use to overdose deaths to prostitution, even progressing into more violent situations where people have been assaulted, guns have been fired."

Multiple efforts by WDRB to contact motel management were unsuccessful. At least two phone calls to the office Friday abruptly ended when the reporter identified themselves. Earlier this week, someone shut the office door as a WDRB reporter tried to ask questions.

Jill Brooks, who lives nearby and attends church at Shively Christian just down the road from the motel, said she's not surprised by the volume of police activity.

"It's a bad scene, and it's been like that for years," Brooks said. 

Brooks described the motel as a long-standing nuisance and said closing it down "should've taken place a long, long time ago."

WDRB asked Louisville's Department of Codes & Regulations whether there were other motels targeted for closure. Spokesperson Emily Martin said, "Currently, no other motels have been reported to Codes & Regulations to initiate nuisance proceedings under Chapter 149."

Shively Police said not long ago, they attempted to work with the motel on improvements such as stopping cash payments and increasing lighting in the parking lot, but their efforts were not successful.

"We tried to work on an agreement with them, which, obviously fell through," said Brown. 

Brown said the changes suggested to the business were focused on increasing safety and record-keeping. 

"I wouldn't say they refused, but we never heard back from them about agreeing to do it, so, essentially it was deemed a refusal," he said.

It was after those efforts that Louisville's Codes and Regulations filed the order to close/vacate. But with the motel's appeal now filed, the issue will move to a public hearing. A date has not been set. 

"... either the vacate order will go through and they will be mandated to shut down or there will be an agreement worked out, as we initially tried to do, to kind of hopefully put some things into place to correct this issue," Brown said.

Brown said police have responded to at least six additional calls at the motel since the vacate order was filed.

"Even after this order, we're still seeing these issues continuing to happen. There's no resolution as of yet," he said.

Brooks said at this point, she'd like to see just about anything other than the motel open there.

"It's been a raunchy place for decades," she added.

The public will be able to attend the upcoming hearing. 

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