BATON ROUGE, LA – An early morning fire at the abandoned OYO Hotel caused an estimated $247 in improvements Wednesday, according to a preliminary assessment of what was left.
Inspectors said the flames removed several longstanding complaints, improved ventilation and briefly replaced the building’s signature odor of homeless urine with something fire officials described as “just regular smoke.”
“We initially reported $150,000 in damage, but then somebody showed us the before pictures,” said one assessor. “We’ve corrected the paperwork.”
The hotel, already facing demolition, emerged from the incident with fewer walls requiring demolition and several rooms upgraded to an open floor plan.
Property owners expressed relief that firefighters contained the blaze before it could spread to anything worth money.
The city has since fined the hotel owner for unpermitted renovations, noting that any improvement to the property, however accidental, requires prior approval.
