Shock! Horror! Scandal!
They’re actually doing work on the Ormsby House!
I was completely blown away to see work really ramped up in March. After weeks of glacial progress, things really started hopping this month. Maybe they were waiting for the threat of snow to leave, or something, but they brought in the workmen and the heavy equipment and started tearing into the old south side parking lot. Here is a long view of Curry Street looking towards the hotel. You can see the piles they drove in December to support the sky bridge.
One of the first things they did in March was to dig shallow pits around the piles, a few feet below ground level.
I know it doesn’t look like much, but you have to remember that this was the first significant work they had done in three months.
The piles are lined up, standing at attention, just waiting to find out what comes next.
They also started cleaning up the parking lot itself, tearing up curbs and asphalt and the astroturf that was passing for landscaping around the joint.
The second week in March, they chopped off the piles so that only a few inches were sticking out of the ground.
Chain link and sandbags keep out curious people and rabbits, respectively.
Five gallon buckets are stuffed into the tops of the piles to stop little kids from falling in. I don’t suppose they’d want that kind of publicity.
They also continued with the parking lot clean-up, leaving the trees but getting everything else out of there.
In just a week they had hauled off most of the garbage, making the area ready for some serious work to start happening.
All this time that they’ve been working on the back, they haven’t been totally ignoring the front. The front door got its own little set of piles, and the workmen were considerate enough to give them the same treatment. Dig a little pit, then chop their heads off. How medieval.
The excavator stands guard over the front doors like a sentry. “You cannot pass! My long arm shall smite you down.”
By later that afternoon, the excavator had taken up its post on Curry Street. They figured, I suppose, that people wouldn’t notice the concrete barriers and multiple detour signs. A huge tractor in the middle of the street, though — that’ll get their attention.
The excavator seemed to be trying to hide the fact that they’re doing more work down in the pits. Looks like they’re starting to build up the framework to pour concrete for the sky bridge footers. Hurray, I say. There’s no such thing as bad progress.
(By the way, just in case you’re from out of town, and you’re wondering, we do have open and operating casinos here in Carson City! As proof, here’s the Horseshoe Club.)
Aww, yeah. Now that’s what I’m talking about. If you want people to take notice of your renovation, just start knocking down a few walls. That’ll show them!
So this was the reason the FakeRock™ bit the dust all those months ago. They were planning on tearing down the whole wall. I guess I can also see why they didn’t do any work through the winter, if this was their next step. It would get a bit drafty in there, even if it is just an empty shell.
The site has finally completed the transition from abandoned building to construction site. It’s been making progress all month, but now there’s no doubt about it.
Scaffolding, scaffolding everywhere.
With the wall gone there’s a little more light pouring inside the building. This used to be (and will be again) the casino. Now that the walls have come down, a nice stiff breeze should blow out all the cobwebs.
In the back, they’re still working on the street and pouring footers for the sky bridge.
Concrete has been poured. Before you know it, the bridge will be up, the casino will be open, and happy tourists will be staying in well-appointed suites. And the heavens will open up, the streets will be paved with gold, and all known diseases will be cured. All by the 4th of July.
Visiting the new Winchester Club? Come right in! Whoops, watch that first step!
And just the next day, things were going vertical.
