The building at 1850 Post Road has had a storied history and is headed for an unclear future. The property was a Sheraton Hotel, then under new owners became a Wyndham Hotel, and is currently operating as a COVID-19 isolation center run by the National Guard. It was recently listed for sale at $14 million. However, the property was advertised for a public auction on Thursday, Jan. 21 due to defaulting on mortgage payments. According to Armando Batastini from Nixon Peabody LLP, the auction was cancelled. The owner of the building is currently in negotiations with chief lending officer Justin DeShaw at Centreville Bank. The face value of the mortgage of the property is $11.5 million according to Batastini.

According to public records, Jay Patel of Shiva Hospitality, LLC, owns the building. However, Patel has failed to pay taxes to the city of Warwick since 2017, owing $860,475.49.

Shiva Hospitality, LLC is a Massachusetts company that registered as a business in Rhode Island in May 2016. The company’s business license was revoked in July 2019 after failing, for several years, to report financial information to the Secretary of State’s office.

Patel did not return emails and could not be reached for comment.

On Friday, Jan. 15, Lila Delman Real Estate posted an online advertisement offering the property at $14 million. David Lawrence, one of the agents handling the sale, declined to share much information but said that what they’re doing is “good for the state.”

The five-floor, 137,968 square foot building has 207 rooms, and is currently being used as an isolation center for unhoused individuals, survivors of violence, and those living in temporary housing and frontline workers at risk who are positive with COVID-19. The National Guard, along with the RI Department of Health operates the center, according to spokesman Joseph Wendelken. He says the Department of Health has not been notified that the arrangement couldn’t continue.

In April 2020, when the site was first used as an isolation center, then-Mayor Joseph Solomon said the Rhode Island State Police and National Guard were overseeing operations.

As of early December, the hotel housed 51 patients.

WJAR reported on Dec. 7 that there were concerns with the living conditions at the site. Carolyn, a CNA who tested positive was voluntarily isolating at the hotel, was interviewed and expressed her concerns about the living conditions. According to Carolyn, there was a lack of fresh air and airflow, as well as questionable nutrition in the food served to patients.

According to both Batastini and Mayor Frank Picozzi, there is the potential for a tax sale of the building, but no further information has been released at this time.