Oheka Castle Owner Offers Upstate Hotel for Migrants

By Samantha Carey

Gary Melius, owner of the Oheka Castle hotel and catering hall, located on the Huntington-Oyster Bay border in Cold Spring Hills, is offering his upstate Quality Inn hotel to house some of the 100,000 migrants arriving into New York.

Melius reached-out to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, asking him to ship the migrants upstate to stay in his hotel.

The Quality Inn is located on West Orvis Street in the town of Massena, New York, just a half mile from the St. Lawrence River and the Canadian border. The hotel is currently rated as "two-star" and lists rooms for a range of about $90-$150 per night. It can house 180 people.

Melius wants the New York City Mayor to send migrants north, and fill up the 115-room hotel property, according to several news reports.

The Quality Inn sits right on the Canadian border, in the middle of a small town where resources are easily accessible, according to Milius, who says the location would be especially convenient for the migrants.

“So, if people need to go out and get something, they don’t need a car,” Melius said. “Because nobody has cars.”

Concerns are raised as thousands of migrants across the U.S. are being shipped into cities with nowhere to live, almost 80,000 several weeks ago into N.Y.C., according to Mayor Adams.

“People are sleeping on the streets and encampments,” Adams said about other cities. He claimed N.Y.C has avoided this with their shelters and those offering to house migrants.

So far, Adams has not responded to Milius' offer.