Clermont Hotel under renovation; lounge safe

Here’s the good news: Only days after the Clermont Hotel was condemned by county health inspectors for a staggering array of gag-inducing infractions, work began to clean up and restore the 1920s-era building for future operation as a newly renovated hotel, complete with a restaurant.

Here’s the bad news: The company that’s apparently doing the renovation and will manage the property, Cobb-based Kronos Hotels, has one of the worst reputations in the entire industry.

In fact, it’s already off to a bad start. Although work began on the hotel in early January — as evidenced by the huge dumpster for construction debris out front — it appears that nobody bothered to get a building permit. A spokesperson for the planning department confirmed to me earlier today that the work going on at the hotel was violation of city ordinance and that a stop-work order would be issued soon, if it hadn’t been already.