Although Muncie’s Lees Inn was built in 1986, it took thirty-four years before the motel made a big splash with area residents as Quality Inn: in 2020, its roof fell into its swimming pool! I happened to drive past the place the day after the roof caved in and, thankfully, managed to snag some pictures.
I lamented the loss of Chesterfield’s old Graham Furniture sign a few weeks ago. I never thought to purposefully document it, but the landmark emblem appeared in a photo I took back in November. It’s gone now, which means my incidental iPhone snapshot is part of the historical record. So, now, are the photos I took of the Quality Inn.
I haven’t written about them here that much, but I was fascinated by hotels and motels during my childhood. In fact, beyond a Rumble Roar Power Blast Godzilla, another pack of Upper Deck basketball cards, and a mad scientist sandwich lab in our kitchen, one of the things I remember haranguing my mom for was the chance to spend a random night at one. I couldn’t dream of anything more fun than staying somewhere “fancy,” eating Chicken McNuggets by the pool, and collapsing into a massive, fluffy bed we wouldn’t have to make in the morning!
Unfortunately, I was less of a pro at convincing my mom of things than I was at begging her for them. I got the Godzilla and the basketball cards but never got to experience the sandwich lab, at least not until I got a job at Subway in high school. We never stayed in a motel for the night either, but I kept harboring the fantasy anyway. I know it’s weird, but what can I say? We were poor, and Muncie’s motel district sat just down the road from our tiny duplex. We passed them every time we went to Marsh for groceries! Although Signature Inn was my favorite and Holiday Inn was the newest, Lees Inn was always near the top of my list of places I wished we could stay.
Lester and William Lee of tiny North Vernon, Indiana, founded Lees Inn in 1974. At first, the brothers tried buying and remodeling existing buildings with restaurants and lounges before they realized the rooms themselves were the moneymakers. The brothers pivoted to a new concept that abandoned company-owned restaurants in the mid-1980s. By 1988, they’d established a subsidiary that built modular rooms that could be assembled into motels cheaper than Holiday Inns or Hyatts1.
Muncie’s Lees Inn was the company’s seventh hotel, and its construction was controversial since it forged ahead as a project to rehabilitate the grand old Hotel Roberts downtown stalled numerous times. Despite that, the director of the Delaware County Convention and Tourism Commission was confident that the new motel would be a welcome addition to the community2. Unscathed by the competition, the Roberts opened as the Radisson Muncie Hotel in 1987.
Lees Inn cost $2 million and opened just off of Bethel Pike at 3400 N Everbrook Lane on October 4, 1986. Although it didn’t feature a pool, sauna, or health club at the time, the motel offered a modern lobby of brass, glass, and oak, along with fifty-two rooms; a continental breakfast; and free HBO, cable, and newspapers3. Since the brothers had gotten out of the restaurant business, Nashville-based Shoney’s stepped in to build a $800,000, 168-seat restaurant just south of the property4.
As Muncie’s newest motel, Lees Inn featured a unique dedication ceremony: instead of a ribbon, colorful mayor Jim Carey cut through a strip of fifty $1 bills5! Although Lees Inns were notable for having larger rooms than most motels and featured up to three conference rooms, they initially lacked luxurious frills6. Ads from the 1980s demonstrated the chain’s commitment to luxury, economy, and “essential” service for family and business travelers alike, and AAA awarded the Muncie branch its Four-Diamond Award in 1987.
In 1988, the inn went through a $1 million expansion that added forty-one rooms and a pool to its northern side7. By 1996, the company had grown to earn $1.5 million in profits on revenues over $20 million8. Unfortunately, that year wasn’t so good for Shoney’s: the franchisee declared bankruptcy and closed its Muncie, Anderson, Richmond, and Marion restaurants that August9.
Cracks were beginning to form in the Lee family as well. Lester -president of the company- was in charge of the big picture, while William managed the plant that made the modular hotel rooms. Eventually, Lester acquired a majority stake in the company to use its profits to shore up some of his less profitable businesses, like a concrete company and a truck manufacturer. When William’s sons objected in 1997, Lester removed them from the board and replaced them with his own immediate family members10.
Co-founder William Lee died in 2001, the same year the company’s Muncie branch evolved into Lees Inn & Suites by adding a pool, spa, and thirty-three suites11. Certain that they’d been improperly removed from the family business, William’s sons Robert and Donald sued Lester Lee, whose board had rubber-stamped his business dealings.
In 2009, a Jennings County circuit court judge ordered Lester to pay William’s trust $7.5 million in compensation. Unfortunately, the victory came too late for Robert and Donald to resuscitate the family’s hotel brand since the company had already sold off most or all of its real estate12.
Muncie’s inn abruptly shut down four years later when employees posted a note on the door saying it was closed for remodeling. Officials hadn’t received an application or permit for any work, so they red-tagged it. The motel stood vacant for a year before longtime Muncie businesswoman Farida Halim reopened it as the Cardinal Inn & Suites13. The old motel eventually came under new ownership again as a Quality Inn franchise under Choice Hotels.
It was business as usual at the Quality Inn until May 4, 2020. That’s when the roof above the pool collapsed! No one was injured, thankfully, since the pool was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but employees moved a few guests from nearby rooms out of an abundance of caution14. When I visited, bricks were scattered around the front of the pool building’s exterior entrance, the roof was buckled, and its western wall bowed precariously towards the 1988 addition.
The local building commissioner considered the structure a total loss15, and the majority of the pool building was eventually replaced with something that does little to match the aesthetics of the rest of the hotel. Unfortunately, Google reviews written as recently as a month ago indicate that the pool is still out of order. Others are typical of any two-star hotel.
It’s been twenty-five years, and although I’m still a fan of Godzilla, basketball cards, and sandwiches, I can safely say I no longer have the unrelenting urge to stay the night in a hotel just down the road from my house. That said, it was fun to stumble across the photos I took of the old Lees Inn after part of it collapsed, even if its destruction drew a sad parallel to the collapse of the family business that founded the chain.
Places like the old Lees Inn aren’t old enough to be historic or new enough to be cutting-edge. It took the bizarre event of its roofing falling in on itself to convince me to even take pictures of it! Nevertheless, they hastened the demise of establishments like the venerable Hill Top Motel. With the recent announcement of a new Holiday Inn Express & Suites to be built further toward the interstate16, I wonder if we’ll soon be in for another sea change in the local hospitality industry. If we are, at least some quick photos will serve as a reminder of what once was.
Sources Cited
1 Dinnen, S.P. (1988, September 20). Lees rebounds by revamping approach. The Indianapolis Star. p. 27.
2 City’s northwest side getting motel, restaurant this summer (1986, May 17). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
3 Richey, R. (1987, May 31). Muncie’s Lees Inn – Proud of Its AA Rating. The Muncie Star. p. 27.
4 (See footnote 2).
5 Looking at the lobby (1986, October 4). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 3.
6 (See footnote 2).
7 Francisco, B. (1988, April 14). Muncie Lees Inn Expanding Capacity. The Muncie Star. p. 5.
8 Russell, J. (2009, May 3). A fractured family business. The Indianapolis Star. p. D1.
9 Francisco, B. (1996, August 30). Four Shoney’s franchises close. The Muncie Star. p. 22.
10 (See footnote 8).
11 Lees Inn changing to a Lees Inn & Suites (2001, March 18). The Muncie Star Press. p. 39.
12 (See footnote 8).
13 Roysdon, K. (2014, July 29). One hotel reopens, another for sale. The Muncie Star Press. p. A1.
14 Walker, D. (2020, May 5). Roof collapses over pool area at Northside Muncie hotel. The Muncie Star Press. Web. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
15 (See footnote 14).
16 Owen, M. (2023, June 6). New Holiday Inn to Bring 50+ Jobs. The Muncie Journal. Web. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
These popular motel buildings are interesting. But most consider them too ordinary to think. The corporate travel landscape of the 80s isn’t likely to become a hot item soon.