New Castle County has filed a lawsuit against the former manager and operator of the Hope Center, the hotel-turned-homeless shelter off I-95.
The legal action, filed in Superior Court on Monday, claims that Hersha Hospitality Management mismanaged the building, leading to significant property damage.
Hersha was hired by the county in late 2020 to manage the Hope Center, a former Sheraton hotel near New Castle which was purchased by the county at the height of the pandemic and converted into an emergency homeless shelter. Per their contract, Hersha was responsible for hiring staff, overseeing refurbishments and conducting routine maintenance and repairs, according to New Castle County.
“The purpose of the Agreement was simple,” the county wrote in the lawsuit. “Let the County focus on providing necessary social services to its residents, while a well-respected hotel and property management company, Hersha, handled the management of the building.”
The partnership went well at first, New Castle County said. But as the hotel industry began to bounce back from COVID-19, Hersha “no longer viewed its relationship with the County as a valuable one,” according to the lawsuit. And by 2023, Hersha’s mismanagement “began to impact every facet of the Hope Center’s operations,” court documents say