Hotel Marysville up for sale; After death of developer, company looks to liquidate all properties, official says

Nov. 24—City officials on Friday confirmed with the Appeal that Hotel Marysville, the long-abandoned eyesore at the corner of E and 5th streets in Marysville, is currently up for sale after developers of the property last year launched plans to revitalize the property.

Lance Robbins, the former CEO of Urban Smart Growth who died on Aug. 24 of this year, previously spoke with the Appeal about his plans for the building, which included modern apartments and commercial office or retail spaces, all of which were briefly detailed on hotelmarysville.com.

Along with a planned modernization of the building and its existing units, Robbins said keeping the historic nature of Hotel Marysville would remain a priority.

"We're a very community oriented company. We're not just a carpetbagger developer," Robbins previously said. "We get involved with artistic and mental health initiatives. We look forward to having real community engagement. We welcome community ideas. We're really open minded, especially the bottom area. We haven't decided what the storefronts will be but we are open to suggestions and ideas. If people have historic memorabilia or stories, then we would like to include those. We want it to live. That's been the hallmark of everything we've done."

At the time, Robbins was confident he could renovate and restore Hotel Marysville, which has been decaying over time and has left many residents disappointed that nothing has been done to either fix it or bring it down altogether.

"I've handled every conceivable problem you can imagine. The physical problems are all manageable. The biggest challenge is the cost. We have the expertise to do it," Robbins previously said. "We need a lot of community support for this. We don't destroy historic buildings. We never have. If the numbers line up and everyone is behind us, this is what we do. This is not a big project for us, this is a medium-size project."

With Robbins' passing in August, Urban Smart Growth now has different plans.

Marysville Community and Economic Development Director Dan Flores told the Appeal on Friday that weeks after Robbins died, his former company submitted "rough plans" to the city for Hotel Marysville.

"The plans show the redevelopment of the Hotel Marysville to a redeveloped hotel with a dining hall/event center on the bottom floor, as well as some commercial space on the bottom floor," Flores said in an email to the Appeal. "The plans show the development of a rooftop bar/restaurant as well."

Flores said a "couple of weeks" after the city received those plans, the city was notified that Urban Smart Growth was considering the sale of Hotel Marysville and the surrounding properties. Flores said the company is liquidating its properties in 66 different cities and therefore "would be unable to redevelop the Hotel Marysville in the short future, two years at least."

The Appeal reached out to Urban Smart Growth COO Aaron Iskowitz for comment on the sale. No response was received as of press time Friday.

Flores said David Herrera, executive vice president of Colliers in Sacramento, is now representing Urban Smart Growth for the sale of Hotel Marysville and other properties. According to the Colliers website listing for the property, called "Marysville Hotel Development," the building is 73,040 square feet in size with a land area of approximately .44 acres. The price, according to Colliers, is to be determined.

Flores said Herrera already has purchased one of the Urban Smart Growth properties on 5th Street, known as the "old D&D building."

"His plan is to lease the property to another user," Flores said of Herrera. "Although there has been a great amount of interest, the other user has not been determined as of today. Mr. Herrera has painted the building and thoroughly cleaned the inside of the building."

Flores said Hotel Marysville has seen "strong interest from potential buyers and developers" and that the city has been informed that Urban Smart Growth will consider offers then advise the city on the status of those offers.

"The broker, David Herrera, has kept the city well-informed of potential interested parties, and shared that he is committed to identifying buyers who are serious about redeveloping the properties and making improvements the city approves of," Flores said. "The city will remain actively involved in supporting positive development of these properties as economic development remains the number one priority for city council and our positive momentum continues."

The potential sale of Hotel Marysville comes as the city recently adopted a change in its downtown parking ordinance to help spur development. Previously, the municipal code required 1.5 onsite parking spaces per residential or hotel unit for developers and property owners in a downtown area that covers most of D, C and B streets from about 1st Street to 9th Street.

That restriction was removed with hopes that the city could see more economic development as a result.

"It really is going to be beneficial to attract future developers because they see the parking ordinance is workable for them and future projects. There are currently two projects that will be coming for consideration in the short term and this will potentially impact those projects," Flores previously said.