Mark Twain Hotel
ST. LOUIS – Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and the City of St. Louis are coming down hard on the Mark Twain Hotel.
The owners of the hotel say it will close by September 1 after Hanaway demanded them to address illegal activity and deteriorating conditions at the facility, which is located at 205 North 9th Street.
Hanaway
“The deplorable living conditions and crime radiating from the Mark Twain Hotel endanger the entire downtown community,” Hanaway said in a July 8 statement. “My office is taking action to restore safety for building residents, surrounding neighborhood, and all of downtown St. Louis.
“I am demanding a comprehensive plan within 14 days to curb the inordinate illegal activity and ensure code-compliant, safe housing.”
The AG’s office sent a letter to owners Anchor Point Hotel LLC and John Campo Jr. the same day demanding a detailed plan to address widespread safety and health and code violations at the property.
“Specifically, drug dealers and drug users resort to the property for the purpose of using, distributing and keeping controlled substances,” Hanaway wrote in the letter. “As a result, the Mark Twain Hotel has become a significant facilitator of unlawful drug-dealing on the streets of downtown St. Louis. This endangers the health and safety of the downtown community and constitutes a public nuisance …
“In addition to its use as a drug den, the property unreasonably interferes with the health and safety of its residents and the public. The building is filled with mold, pigeon droppings and other conditions that make the building a danger to the public’s health, safety, comfort and peace.”
The letter noted holes in the roof allow water to infiltrate the building and that exterior doors or floor-to-ceiling-windows on the second-floor of the building open to the street with no railing or safety mechanism to prevent a fall or to protect passersby from falling objects. It also said the building is infested with bed bugs, which bite occupants and may spread to surrounding establishments. The letter also cites animal droppings.
“The current conditions at the Mark Twain Hotel unnecessarily endanger the health and safety of those who enter the building and of the surrounding community,” Hanaway wrote. “These conditions must be remediated.”
Hanaway says the environment constitutes a public nuisance under Missouri law and demands immediate corrective action.
In addition, the city cited the hotel for multiple code violations this spring and later ordered a fine, according to KMOV-TV, which also has reported there have been nearly 1,000 dispatch calls to the address in the last five years.
Last week, the city assessed a $1,2000 fine to the hotel for failing to correct property code violations. It is due within 30 days.
