The sprinkler system at The Siena Hotel was not working when a longtime employee set fire to the building in August and then shot himself, a Chapel Hill Fire Department report says.
Hotel owner Aanika Hotels LLC applied for demolition permits Nov. 5 for a $1 million project to clean up the damage to the landmark hotel, located at 1505 E. Franklin St., about two miles east of downtown Chapel Hill.
The renovation will be extensive, said Prateek Chandak, co-owner of Aanika Hotels LLC. The hotel’s ownership and management “is not available to comment [further] at this time,” Chandak said…