Homicide at troubled Budget Lodge Inn

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police are investigating the stabbing death of a man who was attacked Wednesday at the Budget Lodge Inn on I-35 and 51st Street .

The victim was rushed to University Medical Center Brackenridge after the stabbing, where he died a short time later. Crime tape Wednesday afternoon cornered off a section of the motel's back parking lot near the third-floor room where police found the victim.

Notorious for drugs and prostitution, the motel came close to being shut down last year. The crime, combined with numerous code violations, piled up, but owner Larry Hill has said the motel was not the problem and instead part of the solution.

The Austin Police Department filed a lawsuit against the motel in early 2009, which outlined a list of security measures the motel needed to take to remain open. Hill said he already started complying with some of the items on the list and also won an appeal that allowed him to keep the motel open.

Prior to the legal battle with the city, former manager Doug Ward plead guilty to sexually assaulting young boys at the motel.

So far this year, Austin police said they have responded to 55 calls at the Budget Lodge. In response to the deadly stabbing, a City of Austin public information spokesperson said they are evaluating the motel's complaince with the list of lawsuit requirements.