After nearly a decade of police runs and code crackdowns, Columbus city attorneys are asking a judge to shut down the Baymont Inn on Morse Road, saying the North Side motel has become a magnet for violent incidents, drug activity and chronic building code failures. In a new court filing, the city is seeking fines, contempt findings, revocation of the hotel’s license and, if the owners do not cooperate, an order to close the property altogether. Neighbors and nearby businesses say the motel has been a stubborn public safety headache for years.
The city’s Property Action Team filed the suit this week, asking the court to force the owners to fix conditions or lose the business. A licensing appeal hearing is set for next Wednesday, April 1, and a contempt motion hearing is scheduled for April 14, according to NBC4.
The Baymont at 887 Morse Road has crossed the city’s radar before. A City Attorney nuisance abatement and hotel compliance operation in 2022 listed the motel among North Side properties targeted for inspections and follow up action. Those earlier efforts show how the office combines inspections, licensing checks and lawsuits when conditions do not improve, according to the Columbus City Attorney’s Office.
Police and the city say the record at the motel is stark. The filing cites more than 440 calls for service tied to the property in 2024 and 2025, including 13 overdoses, nine shootings and reports involving 18 people with weapons. Investigators with the CPD PACT unit also identified an online prostitution advertisement linked to the hotel in February 2025, and police say one person was found unresponsive at the property and later died of an overdose in March 2025. City and state enforcement officials have recently documented multiple building and fire code violations at the site, according to NBC4.
Legal fight ahead
The remedies the city is pursuing, contempt, fines, license revocation and closure, are severe but not unusual for chronic trouble spots. The City Attorney’s Property Action Team has used similar tactics in recent North Side cases to force cleanups or secure closure orders. Property owners will be able to contest the city’s claims at the upcoming licensing appeal and contempt hearings, but prior enforcement materials give judges a detailed record to review before deciding whether a business can stay open. The office described its playbook for shutting down repeat problem properties in a March 24, 2026 press release highlighting an earlier enforcement action, which outlines the kind of order the city is now seeking, per the Columbus City Attorney’s Office.
For neighbors who say they have endured repeated shootings, overdoses and late night chaos, the new filing represents a long awaited attempt at relief. For the motel’s owners, it marks the start of a legal battle that could decide whether the business survives. The hearings next week and in mid April will give the court its first chance to weigh the city’s request against the owners’ defenses. We will continue to follow court filings and hearings and report updates as they come in.
