Car wash going up, hotel in limbo along Bazinsky

Published 12:00 am Sunday, July 20, 2014

Plans are in place for a car wash to grace the corner of Bazinsky and South Frontage roads at the same time construction of a proposed Fairfield Inn down the bluff are apparently on hold.

A permit to build a car wash to feature high-pressure washing and a tunnel is on file with city building inspectors, said Victor Gray-Lewis, chief of the city’s community development. Dirt work continued this past week at the site, which overlooks Holiday Inn and El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant.

The site is owned by I-20 Properties LLC, according to land records. Principals in the firm include Mike Desai and Yogesh Patel, who head up MY Hospitality Services LLC and Pooja LLC. The former operates the Holiday Inn and LaQuinta in Vicksburg; the latter operates the Fairfield location on Pemberton Square Boulevard.

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Meanwhile, construction plans first filed with Gray-Lewis’ department for a $2.8 million Fairfield Inn behind El Sombrero sit idle. No development has taken place since preliminary dirt work began this past spring and no construction permit has been issued to date.

“They’ve never picked up the building plans,” Gray-Lewis said.

Groundwork plans showed a 47,554-square-foot structure with 86 rooms, 23 of them suites, and five wheelchair-accessible. A site clear of vegetation in March is now grassy and overgrown on the periphery.

Chris Patel, listed as a contact for the project on paperwork submitted to the city, did not respond to direct questions about the Fairfield project when reached Thursday.

If completed, the hotel would be the first built in the city from the ground up since 2009.