Amazingly intact after having been abandoned for a decade, Colton's future is not bright. Ving Chuang, a resident of Massachusetts and owner of the former HoJo's, was unable to reach an agreement with Colton city officials about the best use for the property. Apparently Chuang was so unresponsive that a judge appointed a receiver to oversee the site and find a new use for it. Without an agreement, the city was considering its option of eminent domain in order to seize the old HoJo's and demolish it.

Colton planners indicated in 2005 that they wanted a senior living housing complex at the site, but in a phone interview published in the San Bernardino County Sun Mr. Chuang insisted that it was his right to reopen the hotel (no matter how unlikely that would have been!).