Can $4 million makeover transform a troubled McHenry Avenue motel? New owner thinks so
A McHenry Avenue motel that provided housing for poor people with few alternatives but also drew complaints about prostitution, drugs and vagrancy before abruptly closing in January 2019 has a new owner who is finishing up a nearly $4 million renovation of the lodging establishment.
Chowchilla-based Sky Hotels Inc. bought the Budgetel Inn & Suites from the Khatri Bros. partnership in late 2020. The renovation started early this year and is nearly done. Sky Hotels vice president Nick Patel said in a Monday phone interview he expects the hotel to open in 60 days.
The roughly 100-room hotel will operate under the Ramada by Wyndham brand.
Patel said Sky Hotels paid nearly $4 million for the property, which is about a quarter mile south of Briggsmore Avenue, and is investing about the same amount in its renovation. Patel said that includes a revamped lobby, new furniture and fixtures in all the rooms, a laundry room for guests, fitness center, meeting space and an area for hot breakfasts.
Patel said the hotel will be one of the nicer midscale hotels in Modesto, and rooms will rent for about $120 to $160 per night.
He said Sky Hotels believes it can fill a niche catering to business travelers — including those in health care (the hotel is near Doctors Medical Center and other medical facilities) — as well as leisure travelers driving to and from Yosemite National Park and other nearby tourism meccas.
“We’re providing an upscale experience at midscale prices,” Patel said. “We’ve changed out everything, doors, windows, everything. You are pretty much getting a brand new hotel.”
That’s a stark difference from the Budgetel in its final years. City officials and neighboring businesses complained it was the site of drug deals, prostitution and vagrants. But it also offered a home for poor people with bad credit and other problems that prevented them from renting apartments.
Neal Khatri has claimed city officials unfairly blamed the Khatri Bros. for the Budgetel’s problems. He has blamed the motel’s former operator, United Resorts, which leased the property from the Khatri Bros., adding that as the owner, his partnership was limited in what it could do.
Patel said this will be Sky Hotel’s first property in Modesto and Stanislaus County and the fifth property it owns and operates from Fresno to Modesto. “I think the Valley is sustainable” for hotel owners and operators, he said.
He said he expects the Ramada will contribute to a revival of that stretch of McHenry Avenue. He said that makeover includes the cult coffee chain Dutch Bros. opening a kiosk in October and U-Haul recently taking over the long-vacant Longs Drugs building.
“We see it changing,” Patel said about McHenry Avenue. “... We hope to provide some of that synergy.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
