His tenants call him Randy.
When they can find him, that is.
Randhir Maisuria is the owner of the Bayview Inn & Suites, which was raided last Monday.
Without any action, the three buildings and main office that make up the motel will be demolished next Monday, according to a notice a building inspector was stapling to the outside of the dilapidated motel’s three buildings and main office this week.
But Maisuria seems difficult to reach.
His cell phone goes straight to a full voicemail. SomDev Real Estate LLC — the Bayview’s listed owner shares an address with the EconoLodge Meadowlands in Carlstadt, Bergen County. But that number offers call selections that all lead nowhere.
Maisura is tied to at least two other limited liability companies. One — the Galloway Township-based Royal Hotel Group NJ — owns the Baymont Inn & Suites on the White Horse Pike.
Maisuria is not on property, according to a man who answered the Baymont’s phone. Another man provided an email address for Maisuria, who has yet to reply.
Thirty-three people, seven dogs and an alligator were displaced after the raid Aug. 15, according to a count released by Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner.
The dogs were taken to the shelter, where residents were told they could pick them up without charge. But one resident said everyone had to pay to get their pets back.
There were at least an additional two litters of puppies and a cat who also were left to find a new home, former residents tell BreakingAC. They were not taken by law enforcement.
The same day as the raid, city Director of Licensing and Inspection Dale Finch signed a complaint against the property on Albany Avenue for its “unfitness for human habitation.”
Issues include being unsanitary and unsecure, having rodents and bedbugs, and being a public nuisance, according to the complaint.
Four days later, a fire dubbed suspicious gutted much of the middle building’s first floor. That building was long-closed, a former resident said.
The fire remains under investigation, Fire Chief Scott Evans said.
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Bobby Gupta says he sold the property to Maisuria last year, after owning it since about 2012.
It’s not the first fire that raised questions at one of Maisuria’s properties.
In 2005, three people died and at least 14 others were injured in a fire at the Irvington Motor Lodge, according to a New York Times story. Residents claimed the deaths didn’t need to happen but the exits were chained.
Maisuria told the Times that there were no chains, and that the motel had stopped chaining any doors after being fined $2,000 for chains earlier that year.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office charged him with aggravated manslaughter in the case. He pleaded guilty to recklessly causing widespread injury or damage, and was given probation Jan. 5, 2009.
https://breakingac.com/bayview-inn-owner-previously-convicted-in-deadly-2005-fire-at-another-of-his-motels/
Maisuria and his partner were also sued by Best Western in 2007, when they were owners of RSP Realty and were presenting their business as a Best Western, according to court documents.
A judgment was made in favor of Best Western after the defendants failed to reply. It was not clear whether they ever paid the $110, 327.61 award.
But recently, Maisuria didn’t pay his bills, according to two of the tenants who lost their homes in the raid.
The owner took Debbie McFall’s $225 a week, but let electricity and water lapse, she said.
At one point, the manager paid the water out of his own pocket so that tenants could at least have that.
Gail Campos was living and working at the property. She said the deal was that she would work for $250 a week, and her $210 weekly rent would come out of that. She never received the extra $40 a week, she said.
Campos’ son was the target of the raid. He is accused of heading a drug-trafficking network in Atlantic City and also selling a fatal heroin-fentanyl mix to a man in Egg Harbor Township. But that didn’t involve anyone else in their family or the building, she said.
The mother of eight has her two minor children still living with her. Another son was also staying at the motel with his children and their dog, Sky, who had just delivered puppies.
The dog was shot and killed by an Atlantic City police officer after she allegedly made an aggressive move as officers entered the room.
But Campos and McFall said the dog was friendly and, if the owner had been given a chance to put her in her crate, everything would have been fine.
