Oyster Bay starts razing Massapequa's Budget Inn Motel, calling it a longtime eyesore

The Town of Oyster Bay began tearing down the Budget Inn Motel in Massapequa on Tuesday, marking a milestone in the protracted court battle over the site that town officials have described as a dangerous community eyesore.

Oyster Bay has engaged in a legal dispute over the two-story motel since 2024. Town officials said the property was the location of illicit activity and cited it for numerous code violations. Last year, a state Supreme Court justice rejected an attempt to prevent the demolition.

“The people of this community have lived with this blight for far too long,” Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said during a news conference outside the shuttered motel.

Saladino climbed into the yellow excavator parked in the parking lot of the motel and lowered the vehicle’s long, mechanical arm through the walls of the boarded-up building.

The excavator’s bucket crunched through the building’s facade, tearing through its ceiling and ripping apart the floors. Saladino then swung the excavator and dumped the debris in a pile — the first chunks of the building to come down.

Oyster Bay officials said the building is slated to be razed in about a week by the town’s highway department, except for a few steel structures that need to be methodically taken apart.

“This building doesn’t just look bad,” Saladino said. “It is dragging down the quality of life and is putting public safety at risk.”

He said the town remains open to buying the property on Carman Mill Road, which is between a highway department yard and Field of Dreams Park, which Oyster Bay manages. Court documents show the town in April made an offer of $1.9 million, Newsday has reported. 

Tejal Shah, an attorney representing the property’s ownership group, Om Shiv Sai Guru Inc., did not respond to a request for comment.

Oyster Bay sued the owners in February 2024, arguing the motel violated town ordinances and was a community nuisance. 

A town inspection had identified numerous safety hazards, including exposed electrical wiring.

The motel previously received funding from the Nassau County Department of Social Services to house people in single rooms, though the county moved them to other locations after the town filed its lawsuit.

In April 2024, the motel’s owners countersued the town, alleging it violated its own code and was excessive when it revoked the business' building permits and certificates of occupancy.

The two sides agreed in July 2024  the site would be demolished, but an attorney for the property owners attempted last fall to delay the razing. A state Supreme Court justice denied the request.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ