Jun. 7--At the foot of the Beltline overpass on Paducah's Southside, two decaying motels sit empty and closed. Both may soon become history.

The Travel Inn, 1380 Irvin Cobb Drive, will be auctioned at the McCracken County Courthouse at 1:30 p.m. June 15 as McCracken Circuit Judge Craig Clymer ordered, with the proceeds paying a defaulted mortgage and liens from back taxes and unpaid contractors.

Across the street, the Paducah City Commission painted a target on the Economy Inn last week when it included $100,000 in its proposed budget to demolish the motel. The city's inspection department condemned the hotel in October; it's been closed since mid-2007.

"We have a lot of that property around town, and we want to send a message," Commissioner Gayle Kaler said. "We don't want to be a city of derelict motels."

Joel Scarbrough, the city's inspection director, said both motels share traits with others that city inspectors deal with regularly: a lack of qualified or experienced managers and maintenance staff.

"A lot of times, in their efforts to address deficiencies, because of that lack of experience they actually make it worse," he said.

The Economy Inn, Scarbrough said, is in the worst shape. The fire department closed it in 2007 because of several building and fire code violations. Repairs began, but leaks from efforts to fix the roof caused additional damage, as did a small fire. Vandals stripped the building of most of its copper piping and wiring. Those problems compounded structural concerns that predated the closing, Scarbrough said.

That's why he recommended tearing it down, he said.

"People always ask you, 'Can you fix it?' And I always say, 'Yes, we can fix any of them,'" he said. "But sometimes they get to the point that it isn't reasonable to do so."

According to city records, the Jimil Corporation owns the motel. But state records indicate Secretary of State Trey Grayson dissolved the corporation in 2006 after it failed to file the required annual report. Kanubhai Patel founded the corporation in 2004, but Arvind Patel was listed as its president and only officer on the 2005 annual report. Its corporate address was listed as that of the motel, 1379 Irvin Cobb Drive, and the registered agent, attorney Greg Rains, has since died.

Neither Patel is listed in the Paducah phone directory. Greg Cherry, the city fire marshal, said he dealt with a man he knew as Andy Patel -- possibly Arvind Patel, he said -- on issues involving both motels, and understands he left Paducah after the Travel Inn closed earlier this year.

Andy Patel told the Sun in July that work continued on both motels, but he said high gas prices last summer left him with little business.

The fire department had also closed a wing of the Travel Inn in 2007 after responding to a small electrical fire and finding various code violations. The discoveries spurred an inspection sweep of all the hotels in the city, which led to the closing of the Economy Inn across the street.

The Travel Inn became the subject of a foreclosure lawsuit last year, and Craig Clymer, McCracken Circuit Court judge, ordered its sale April 30. After paying the auction expenses, the proceeds will go to California-based Temecula Valley Bank, which holds a $1 million mortgage on the property. If the auction brings more than that, the money would go to pay back city and county taxes as well as to unpaid contractors who placed liens against the hotel, court records show.

Contact C.D. Bradley, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8617.

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