After two hours of deliberation, the Lenexa City Council approved a resolution deeming a local hotel unsafe and dangerous.
On Tuesday, the Lenexa City Council unanimously approved, 8-0, the resolution for the Radisson Hotel location at 12601 W. 95th St., after seeing photographic evidence of 21 different violations cited by the city.
“Being a contractor, I’ve dealt with a lot of mold issues in my time, and I deem this building unsafe, and there’s just no any ifs or buts about it,” Councilmember Mark Charlton said.
Lenexa forced the hotel’s closure on March 26 when the city issued an Notice of Condemnation and Order to Vacate Unsafe Structure, deeming it to be unsafe and unfit for human occupancy.
By taking this step on Tuesday night, the city can set a timeline on what the property owners need to do next.
Problems cited with the building include:
- A boiler was installed without a building permit, was connected with duct tape and lacked required state approval
- Extensive mold throughout the building
- Roof was in substantial disrepair and leaking in multiple locations
- One elevator was out of service for an extended period and the operational one is leaking extensive amounts of hydraulic fluid
- Several areas of the flooring were soft and not stable under a normal load
- HVAC systems do not work in many guest rooms
- Electrical panels were found with extensive rust and corrosion, and some of them were emanating smoke
- Open electrical boxes in many guest rooms
- Water damage is present on walls, floors and inside required equipment
- Many guest room doors have large gaps, allowing potential fire to spread
- Marked, required fire exit doors do not open, other fire doors do not function as designed
- Required ceiling tiles for fire system activation are missing
- Additional violations have been identified at each inspection, including other areas of visible mold and mechanical deterioration
The city council approved the resolution after a public hearing, during which the city’s legal counsel, Assistant City Attorney Ashlee Tomasic, presented evidence and context for the violations.
Also during the public hearing, Paul Snider, of Snider Public Affairs, made the case for his clients, Kansas Hotels and Lenexa Vision LP, the title owner of the hotel and the property manager, to allow them more time to fix the problems with the hotel.
The building has had problems since 2021
The city’s issues with the building date back to 2021, when the city condemned the hotel for 10 days due to safety violations.
On Jan. 1, 2025, Lenexa Vision took over took over possession, control, operations and
management. In September 2025, when the city was conducting its annual safety inspection of the property, a city codes enforcement officer noticed similar problems that it had back in 2021.
“Because of concerns with some of the same issues that we saw back in 2021, we requested a whole property inspection,” Tomasic said.
After that, the City of Lenexa conducted six inspections of the property from November 2025 to March, reported the violations to the hotel and asked for the hotel to remedy those so it would be in compliance with city codes.
In response, they saw other violations pop up, like improper disposal of drywall with mold on it, drywall that was not fire-rated being used as a replacement, rooms with mold not being encapsulated and support beams that had rotted away, among other issues.
“These issues and the totality of all those pictures, all those violations that are occurring, clearly show that this is unsafe for its use as a hotel and having occupancy by the general public,” Tomasic said.
Hotel rep argues work can be done to solve issues
Speaking on behalf of Lenexa Vision and Kansas Hotels, Snider argued that the building, which was opened in 1970 and one of the largest hotels in Johnson County, was not in complete disrepair.
Touting its size and amenities, including 300 rooms, a restaurant, pool, fitness room and meeting rooms, Snider said there were areas that didn’t receive any violations.
“Some of those issues are certainly in hot spots in the area, but there are other parts that are not as significantly impacted,” he said. “Overall, the building is in good shape, but obviously issues to address for sure.”
While Lenexa Vision has operated other hotels in Texas and Kansas, Snider said that after they took over the Radisson Hotel, they’ve had to adjust to new city standards.
“I would say it’s fair to say that (they’re) still getting their sea legs,” he said. “The comprehensive and sophisticated standards that are here in Lenexa are not something that they have typically dealt with, but they are now coming to that realization very, very quickly.”
The hotel is undergoing a forensic analysis report by the engineering firm Norton & Schmidt to see all of the problems that need to be fixed with the building, Snider said.
“(We’re) trying to look at all aspects of the building to understand what current issues are, and once those have been identified, there will be remediation options built into that report, and that report is not cheap, especially for a group of operating operators that have had no income from that property since roughly March 26,” he said.
The two companies are also in the process of withdrawing their injunction against the City of Lenexa. The companies had filed that injunction two months to try to invalidate the city’s condemnation of the property so they can continue cleaning and repairing it.
Councilmembers responded
While Snider made an argument for the hotel to be remediated, the city council remained skeptical.
Councilmember Courtney Eiterich took issue with the announcement at the meeting that the hotel’s electricity is shut off due to the owners not paying their electrical bills and that, potentially, a lack of air conditioning could cause more mold problems.
“For me, the conditions continue to grow worse, and so, that option of repairing diminishes a little bit more because it’s exacerbating,” she said.
During his presentation, Snider invited the councilmembers to tour the hotel to see its current conditions, which Charlton later said he would turn down, if presented the opportunity.
“There’s significant life safety and environmental concerns in this building, in addition to structural (problems),” he said. “You want to give us tours of this building … but there’s going to be areas you probably won’t want us to see. That’s tough right there. So I probably wouldn’t want to tour the building, to be honest.”
The hotel owners’ lack of urgency was also a concern, Councilmember Chelsea Williamson added.
“The owner-operator had plenty of time, plenty of notice to deal with this situation, and all of a sudden now there’s this urgency, when the urgency, in my opinion, should have been in November,” she said.
Councilmember John Michael Handley questioned Snider’s framing of the city’s standard being different from other areas.
“This is a problem long in the making, and something that really isn’t about sophisticated code. I don’t know what smoking electrical outlets have to do with sophistication,” he said.
Mayor Julie Sayers took exception to Snider being the sole representative for Kansas Hotels and Lenexa Vision.
“All of them are in the Houston area. I did not invite them, and they did not ask to come … I think they thought it was best if I communicated with you,” Snider said.
Sayers also noted that the company being named Lenexa Vision reflected poorly on the city.
“(I) wanted to put some punctuation on it for your clients: The use of the term Lenexa Vision carries connotation, and they are not aligned with using that term. I hope they understand that and can be present to the proceedings from here on,” the mayor said.
What’s next
Lenexa Vision will have to obtain an engineering report within 30 days. From there, they will have to submit a comprehensive plan for either obtaining full compliance or removal of the structure by Aug. 17.
If the property owner decides to demolish the hotel, then they would be required to do so within 90 days, or by Nov. 15. If they want to repair it, then they would have to have all repairs completed and approved by city inspection by 180 days, or Feb. 13, 2027.
