CLOSED: Town of Hempstead closes down Coliseum Motor Inn on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow

The Coliseum Motor Inn, in East Meadow, was closed by the Town of Hempstead May 30 due to unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, according to town officials.

An inspection of the hotel conducted by the town building department led to its closure. In a statement, Town Supervisor Don Clavin said that Nassau County police worked with other agencies to locate residents.

County spokesman Chris Boyle said that the Department of Social Services relocated 19 people from the beleaguered motel, on Hempstead Turnpike, across the street from Eisenhower Park.

“The safety of residents and neighbors remains a primary concern for the Town of Hempstead,” Clavin said in a statement.

The owner of the motel is listed as Mahadev Equity Partners LLC.

The town monitored the inn closely over the past year due to an increase in crime, Clavin’s office said. While the building is not fully condemned, it is closed and deemed “unfit for human occupancy.”

“Boy, am I glad they busted them finally,” Helen Meittinis, president of the Community Association of Stewart Avenue and a resident of Salisbury, said. “I am so glad to hear about that, because there was nothing but crime going on there. It was prostitution, drug sales, and everything else.”

Nassau police reportedly arrested three men last month for allegedly having crack cocaine in their room. The three men were said to be living there.

Clavin’s office said that the unsafe and unsanitary state of the motel was severe. The structural steel was severely damaged, the brick walls were damaged from water intrusion and the outdoor stairways were heavily deteriorated. Because of the poor conditions, there were no adequate emergency exits.

Due to the exterior doors and windows being in poor condition, mold developed inside of the building and there were soiled carpets and flooring. Locks did not functioning properly. The roof was structurally unsound allowing water to enter the motel.

There was missing drywall throughout the motel along with missing or inoperable smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Steve Edmondson, former securities director at the motel around 10 years ago, said that he went to a Uniondale civic association meeting about a month ago where a deputy inspector from the NCPD‘s 1st Precinct in Baldwin, said that they were going to close down the motel.

“I asked him if he was aware that the social services department has people living there,” Edmondson said. “He said he was well aware but they were going to close the place down because of drug activity.”

Edmondson said he remembers the fire marshal’s office and the police department coming in and giving the previous owner 64 summonses.

“The old owner used to refuse to put social service recipients in there because it was too much of a bother,” Edmondson said. “They still have a bad clientele.”

He also recalls people being evicted from the Coliseum Motor Inn who would then head to the Bethpage Motel.

Edmondson is also with the Poor People’s Campaign, a nationwide organization that focuses on helping poor and low-income people, and the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group that helps the homeless in New York City. One of his main concerns about the motel closing was whether or not the relocated people have adequate housing.

“We need housing, we need it now,” Edmondson said.