February, 2006 - Page 1

Posted March 2, 2006

You know, they were doing so well. They were on a roll, they had been working for over a year straight, and the progress was fantastic. Maybe not as quick as a normal construction project, but by Ormsby House standards they were just zipping by. That's why it's so disheartening that all work on the Ormsby House seems to have stopped back in October, some of it looking like the workmen left to take a 15-minute break and never came back.

That's also why there haven't been any updates on this site for a few months. When they're not doing any work, there isn't anything to write about. But a few of you were writing in, wondering what had happened, so I figured I could throw together a "State of the Ormsby" update, showing the way things are now, the way they have been for the last few months.

I don't know if they stopped because of the winter weather or what, but with spring starting to arrive and the first green shoots popping out of the ground, we can only hope that work will start back up soon. Here's how far they got before they stopped...

Most of the exterior work is done. The whole hotel and casino has been redone, from the roof to the ground, with all new stucco, windows and paint. It really does look nice, much nicer than it did even fifteen years ago when it was open and running strong.

They've done a little bit of curb and gutter work here along Carson Street, forming the outline of a right-turn lane that you'll use to get into the portecochere for valet parking. But even though they've moved the chain link fence back a few feet to let people walk here, they still haven't paved the sidewalk yet.

The grand bay-window north entrance along Carson Street. Most of the glass has been installed here, but no doors yet. It's still open to the elements. And the strip of FakeRock™ along the bottom has been finished here, which is more than I can say for the majority of the structure.

Here's the bay window at the south side, also along Carson Street. This one only has a small exit door, not a grand entrance. And the FakeRock™ hasn't been installed yet.

The portecochere. This will be the main entrance to the casino, and presumably the hotel registration desk will be right inside here. This is the view from Carson Street, where you'll drive up for valet parking.

Here's a straight-on view of the main entrance from Seventh Street. So much different from the little tiny door that used to stand at this spot. This part of the building got some of the most drastic work done; the original wall was demolished, and the building was extended about twenty feet to the south. Then this giant portecochere was built over it all.

The arched doorway with its offset pillar hasn't gotten the final coat of stucco and paint yet; just one of the many places where they almost finished something, and then left it for months.

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