Tag: downtownermotorinn

News Carson City is reporting (Nevada Appeal too) that the Downtowner Motor Inn, Public Eyesore #1, has been shuttered by the city for not paying its taxes, This is three months after new owners were supposed to take over, and a year after reopening from a two-year remodeling job to get rid of mold and asbestos. All residents are being kicked out, and the building and land will be sold at auction.

You know what this means: THIS IS OUR CHANCE. This is the best opportunity we've had to get this motel torn down and immediately improve the look and feel of downtown. If the city wasn't broke (or giving money away to car dealers) they could buy it as part of the "Roundhouse District" they're trying to get going. Or the Children's Museum could buy it with the Hampton Inn money. It would be nice to see that place as a park or a public plaza, so the Civic Auditorium behind it would no longer be hidden. Abandon Washington Street and have the old V&T Depot be part of the park too, like in some of the blue sky plans for the future we've seen. But really having anything else built on that corner would be preferable to what we have now. Maybe we could take up a collection and buy it ourselves. I'll chip in the first five bucks.

Crossposted from the WNHPC Blog.

With the recent news that the Downtowner Motor Inn in Carson City may have new owners soon, Joe Childs was good enough to send in a scan of another old postcard of the motel. This one is dated 1969, and shows the motel when it was only seven years old.

This dusk shot almost makes the place seem inviting. The glow of the sign and the porch lights, as well as the Best Western crown, seem to have pulled in a lot of customers. Joe scanned the back of this one too, showing the message from “Poppy” to Miss Kristen Hendershot of Orange, Calif.

From the Nevada Appeal:

The Downtowner Motor Inn lost its business license Thursday at the city board of supervisors' meeting but will remain open as a new owner takes over the motel that was shut down in 2005 before reopening last year.

The potential new owners, the Shearer family, are working with the city to take over the motel now. No one will be asked to move out during the transition, city staff said.

Shearer said he is working with the city to find the best use for the hotel. He might keep it as the Downtowner, have a hotel chain take it over or give the land to the next door Children's Museum of Northern Nevada to use for expansion.

Dave Morgan also has coverage from a couple of days ago.

I'm sure Carson City will be considering the motel building to house the new library. But I've said before that this motel needs to be torn down. Figuring out what to do with the land is tougher. Leaving it as open space would be nice, because pictures I've seen from before the motel was built show a big open area with great views of the Civic Auditorium next door, and it would be nice to have that back. But "open space" is hardly a good use of premium land in a downtown area.

This land was originally part of the railroad depot, which still stands across the street. The train tracks and the passenger platform took up most of what is now Washington Street, but mail and delivery trucks would park where the Downtowner now stands so that goods could be offloaded directly off the backside of the train. This parking area can be seen in the photo below, from 1949.

The railroad tracks were torn up in 1950, and the lot stayed vacant until 1962 when the motel was built. Maybe that corner is going to enter a new era soon.