About two months after the City of Altoona shut down the Quality Inn and Club Car Cafe for code violations, the Pleasant Valley Boulevard hotel and eatery is back in business.
The Quality Inn reopened 43 rooms and its banquet facility, bar and restaurant Thursday afternoon, General Manager Ajay Shah said Friday.
The rest of the hotel is likely to reopen in a week to 10 days, Shah said.
The city condemned the hotel June 1 after complaints led to an inspection revealing several violations, including electrical problems and 417 stack and drain pipes that were cut and draining water and sewage into an area between rooms accessed by employees.
A few days after the hotel was shut down, Shah reported to city police that former employees possibly stole the missing copper piping from the hotel.
A detective was to investigate, Police Chief Janice Freehling said at the time.
Shah said he was reserving any further comment until the entire hotel is open but did say the business wants to give its best service to customers,.
City Councilman Dave Butterbaugh was pleased with the progress.
"I'm glad they're headed in the right direction," he said. "I'm glad to see them open back up."
City Planning Director Lee Slusser said the hotel was issued an occupancy permit for the renovated section after having met all health and building codes.
Work is continuing "diligently" on the rest of the hotel, and management put a lot of money and work into getting it back up to code, Slusser said.
Slusser said he was happy for the business, which overcame obstacles to become a success story.
Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Clegg is at 949-7030.
