Inspection records show conditions at shuttered Red Rock Inn

PLYMOUTH, Ind. — A Plymouth motel was vacated this fall because of structural issues, a bug infestation, and more health, building, and fire code violations. Now, it is likely to be demolished. The Red Rock Inn in Plymouth is now completely empty, but just how bad were the conditions there?

"The police department, the EMTs, the fire department, they were always being called out here," said Rene Lopez, owner and manager of the neighboring Mexican restaurant. "It started to turn into a bit of a nuisance, actually, for the city and for us, honestly."

Now sitting empty, the Red Rock Inn is set to come down by this summer, deemed an unsafe building by the Plymouth Building Commissioner, Dennis Manuwall Jr.

"We had a first responder nearly fall off the top floor because of the railing," said Plymouth Mayor Robert Listenberger.

That near-fall got the city's attention.

"The balcony was starting to just lean off of the building itself," Lopez said.

ABC57 Investigates obtained documentation from Manuwall from a June 2, 2025, building inspection, showing the structural issues. As of January, the cantilevered balcony has still not been repaired, he said.

"It wasn't necessarily a traditional hotel, one-night, two-night stays. People were staying there for years," Listenberger said.

Dozens had been calling the motel home, checking in and never checking out.

"It started just slowly deteriorating," Lopez said. "The owners didn't want to repair anything. They never did. They wanted to just leech it for everything it was worth."

All the motel guests were forced out permanently in October due to an emergency vacate order.

That came after the city got another complaint from Plymouth Community Schools. A cockroach was reportedly found in a student's backpack and later in their clothes, believed to come from home. This prompted another inspection, with results that were "alarming."

ABC57 obtained nearly 100 photos from Manuwall showing the bug infestation, mold, and more from his October inspection. This, plus the persisting structural issues, left the property owners with two choices: repair the property or tear it down.

"They don't want to do the repairs, is more like it," Lopez said.

Lopez's restaurant, Mi Camino Real Mexican Grill, has been operating on the same property as Red Rock Inn since 2006, and is owned by the same landlord.

"They were given a date to have all the repairs done by, and instead of repairing them, they asked the city for an extension, because, when I did the math, they didn't want to buy out our lease, basically," Lopez said. "So they said, 'hey give us 'til may, when their lease ends, and then we'll just tear everything down.'"

ABC57 tried reaching out to the property owners, reportedly living in New Jersey, and did not hear back.

"So, we're caught in the crossfire here, big time. We've been in business for almost 20 years now. We're a staple of the community," Lopez said. "At this point, not even the City of Plymouth is willing to help our business, a Latino-owned business... We have a lot of our customers asking us, 'what are you going to do?' We don't know."

The property owners have until June 1 to tear down the property, or they risk owing the city of Plymouth a half-million-dollar bond.

The most recent order can be found below.