As the summer dragged on, the Ormsby House continued its slow march towards completion. August I suppose couldn’t be considered a slow month, but neither could you call it hopping. There were a couple of visible changes to the exterior, and trucks and people were moving in and out of the site constantly. I think a lot of interior work was still going on during August, so there wasn’t a lot to see from the outside.

One of the big exterior changes during Auguast was the addition of corner windows on the top two floors of the hotel tower. The Ormsby always had hotel windows looking west and east. Never had you been able to look north or south. But in keeping with their plans to convert the rooms to suites, they cut some new openings to create a few penthouse corner suites.

Only the top two floors got this special treatment, on both ends of the building. That makes a total of eight corner suites in the new Ormsby House. At the same time, they also ripped out all the old windows in the entire tower and started replacing them with new glass. For a short while there, the tower must have been one drafty place to work. Especially on the top floors, where the wind could grab you from all sides.

Up on the hill is always a good place to keep track of the work on the hotel, since you’re right at the same level as the sixth floor. Here you can see right through the building. I guess this means it’s still gutted in there.

The new windows were slowly installed on all the hotel floors.

If you cut the Ormsby, does it not bleed?

At the end of the month, the back door was ripped out, taking with it a couple more of the old Guns N’ Roses emblems.

Another huge leap during the month of August was the start of work on the second floor to connect to the sky bridge coming from the parking garage. Here you can see where they cut out a formerly blank wall to open up the whole second floor. These openings are going to lead out to the new section of the building, which in turn will lead to the bridge.

Looking down Curry Street you can see the new openings leading into the back section of the second floor, where the buffet used to be located.

Right now it would be quite a jump from the bridge to the hotel. Luckily they’re planning on bringing the building out to meet it.

Peeking in through the opening, there is nothing but darkness in the gutted second floor. This area will become the entrance most people will use, at least those who park in the garage. Here escalators will take visitors down to the casino floor.

Along the stretch where the new south wall is being built, the foundation for the expansion was backfilled and prepped for steelwork and cinder blocks.

The outside wall was demolished so they could bring the casino out into the addition. This used to be a tiny little valet parking entrance, but it will become the main entry hall. The FakeDoors™ look on, hoping they survive the renovation.

Exciting stuff is happening as summer winds down. Stay tuned for more news in September.