Hundreds of people infected with Covid in the early days of the pandemic recuperated at the Clarion Pointe Rochester, where the motto is, “Stay on Pointe.”
The Monroe County Public Health Department had secured the 43-room hotel, on Monroe Avenue in Brighton, as a designated quarantine site for people who did not need to be hospitalized but could not isolate safely elsewhere.
Most eventually made a full recovery and walked away with their health. But many also allegedly walked away with bedding, furniture, and other items that belonged to the hotel.
That is the crux of a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court this month by the hotel’s parent company, which claims the county breached its lease agreement. The hotel is seeking $26,000 in damages.
Included in that figure is an unpaid $5,600 laundromat bill that the county allegedly racked up, and the cost incurred by the hotel to clean and disinfect the premises, which the county had allegedly agreed to do before vacating.
“Under the terms of the lease, (Monroe County) agreed to leave the premises and its furnishing, appurtenances and textiles free from unreasonable or excessive wear and tear and to safeguard those items from damage and theft,” the complaints reads.
The lawyer for the hotel’s parent company, S.A. Hospitality, did not return phone and email messages. A county spokesperson declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Monroe County leased the hotel from March 18 — a week after the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic — and occupied it through the following February.
The Public Health Department provided a range of services to people staying in the hotel under isolation orders, including health monitoring, security, and medicine.
In exchange, the hotel was paid $522,000, according to the county. The county subsequently issued the hotel a $15,000 grant intended for businesses adversely affected by the health crisis.
