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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi |
The Dayton Executive Hotel originally opened in 1962. Initially a 225-room hotel that offered a unique and upscale restaurant, the lodging establishment would delve into an eyesore just off the interstate. We explored it
back in 2012, but thanks to my friend Mike, we have this update.
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| - The Dayton Executive Inn in 2012. Image by Ronny Salerno. |
The "Dayton Executive Hotel" didn't have good
reviews in its last years, both as an independent hotel and as one under the corporate monikers of Raddison and Best Western. Dayton news outlets were abuzz recently as demolition of what had become an eyesore was imminent. For years the abandoned hotel had sat empty, butting up to the interstate just off of I-75's Needmore Rd. exit.
A lifelong South Dayton resident, Mike gained permission to visit the property and had this to say about it:
"Opened in 1962, The Dayton Executive Hotel has held many names throughout the years, such as Raddison and Best Western.
My parents told me that it was best known for it's restraunt, "The Seven Nations." Back in the day, it was a very ritzy hotel.
I only stepped foot into the hotel once, but only in the lobby when a "Knight Rider" car convention was begin held there back in the summer of 2007.
The hotel closed in April 2008 and slowly started to get covered in graffiti while windows and glass doors started getting broken into.
In 2010, I drove up to the property and noticed a very large puddle of water coming from the loading dock. More that likely scrappers broke in looking for copper and broke a water pipe and the whole basement flooded.
I tried to contract the realtor, to see if I could tag along when/if they did a building inspection, but I kept getting the run around.
In 2012, a demolition company was hired to demolish the property, but it was delayed for 3 years. The owner, who owed $1.2 million dollars in back taxes, kept filing appeal after appeal to keep the property standing. Eventually the property was lost in foreclosures
I was granted 1 hour to go through the hotel before it saw the wrecking ball. I wasn't allowed in certain parts of the hotel and was warned that people could be hiding the the rooms, so to enter at my own risk. At one point, I thought I did hear footsteps while I was on the second floor.
This was the grossest, scariest and coldest exploration I've ever done!
The "large puddle of water coming from the loading dock" that Mike mentioned actually extended throughout the hotel's entire lower level. During our
visit in 2012, the water was one of the eeriest features:
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| - Lobby staircase leading to the flooded lower level as seen in 2012. Photo by Ronny Salerno. |
As Mike's photos show, the water had somewhat receded or removed in recent time:
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| - The lobby sans water. Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
However, it wasn't gone entirely. As Mike ventured to the basement, he found that what remained of the water was now ice:
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
When asked if he had stepped onto the ice during his visit, Mike said:
"I walked about 6 feet to the left and the back to the right. I was too scared to walk under any doorways, even thought the demolition crews said they had been walking around it the day before."
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
Anything of value left in the building had been stripped by a probable combination of scrap thieves, the property owner and the wrecking crew. Despite the building being pretty far gone in 2012, it's amazing to see how much more it decayed by 2015:
2012:
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| - Photo by Ronny Salerno. |
2015:
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
2012:
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| - Photo by Ronny Salerno. |
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2015:
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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2012:
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| - Photo by Ronny Salerno. |
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2015:
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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According to
WHIO Channel 7 out of Dayton, the demolition was funded by a developer based out of Lexington, KY. As of this writing, what's going to replace the hotel hasn't been announced.
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- Best Western Employee of the Month plaque. Photo by Mike Sopronyi.
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - According to a quick Google search, Blades of Glory debuted on HBO in March 2008. Note that the advertisement still displayed an "AOL Keyword." Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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| - Photo by Mike Sopronyi. |
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I'd like to sincerely thank my friend Mike Sopronyi for taking these photographs and sharing them with Queen City Discovery. Mike was also instrumental in facilitating last week's update on another closed hotel:
The Kings Island Resort and Conference Center.
Thanks Mike!
For the original Dayton Executive Hotel article from 2012, click
here.