Shenango Inn owner says he's halfway to securing funds for new hotel

SHARON – Michael Yanko, the owner of the former Shenango Inn, says he is halfway into a 90-day waiting period to acquire a loan that will secure the funding to renovate and reopen the property as a four-star hotel.

However, city officials don’t necessarily believe the hotel, at 1330 Kimberly Road in Sharon, will come to fruition.

“We continue to work with Mr. Yanko ,and I don’t want to use the word ‘optimistic,’” City Manager Bob Fiscus said.

At a recent city council meeting, resident Maryann Phillips, who lives on Kimberly Road, said she noticed that the building’s power is off and that the fire alarm system is no longer beeping.

City council President Molly Bundrant said the grass is pretty high and asked if the code department is going to cite Yanko.

“The code department will actively look for code violations and continue to address them as they have in the past,” Fiscus said. “It will be done more aggressively this year than it has in the past to make sure there’s better upkeep.”

Phillips inquired about a timeline for the owner to secure funding, asking Fiscus, “is there an end to this?”

Fiscus said the building has not deteriorated enough for the city to condemn the property.

In March, he said he felt less confident that Yanko’s plan for the four-star hotel is feasible.

Yanko’s Nyack, N.Y., company bought the property in February 2022 for almost $500,000. He estimated a total cost of $6 million to buy, renovate, market and open a business he called “The Shenango Hotel.”

A plan he presented to city council in March 2022 would have led to a soft opening of a four-star hotel and restaurant on Nov. 29, 2022.

Yanko said opening the hotel and restaurant, which would have retained its traditional name, The Golden Lion, would generate 60 to 65 local jobs.

Despite positive talks between Fiscus and the Yanko Group, concerns about the building’s viability loom.

The now-closed hotel has been empty for six years and city officials and the community have expressed fears that it would become another blighted property. Sharon city code enforcement officials have already been sent to the building to investigate various code violations.

Neighbors have also complained about the lack of landscaping maintenance at the property. Fiscus told neighbors last year that the owner hired a landscaping company to clean up the outside.

Originally built by hundreds of community investors, the property was a high-end hotel and restaurant from the 1950s and into the 1980s. It was sold in the 1980s and eventually became an assisted-living home that closed in 2018.

In December 2022, the Sharon Zoning Commission approved a zoning variance that was the final step in allowing developers to begin remodeling.

No progress has been made to date.

Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com