Mapes protectors lose another legal battle; bricks for sale

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000 | 5:39 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The city of Reno won another legal battle Tuesday in its effort to demolish the historic Mapes Hotel and a demolition boss said he intends to sell souvenir bricks for $1 each after the implosion Jan. 30.

Washoe District Judge James Hardesty refused a request by preservationists to issue another temporary restraining order blocking demolition work on the 52-year-old hotel-casino.

The judge rejected their claims that the demolition contract should be voided because the city failed to advertise for bids.

He said the city "seems intent to demolish this building" and that revisiting the bidding process would only cost taxpayers more money.

Preservationists are unlikely to appeal his decision to the Nevada Supreme Court, as they did with an earlier ruling against their claims that violation of open meetings laws should have voided the demolition plans, said Jeff Dickerson, a lawyer for the Truckee Meadows Heritage Trust.

But he said they continue to hold out hope that a separate lawsuit in federal court will save the Mapes, a 12-story brick building that was the first built to house a hotel, casino and live entertainment under one roof.

That suit is scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in Reno on Jan. 21. It alleges that an implosion of the Mapes will emit toxic materials in violation of the federal Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

Meanwhile, the city is moving ahead with its plans to blow up the building on Jan. 30, Super Bowl Sunday.

Dickerson said he was optimistic that the Mapes still could be salvageable by Jan. 21 despite additional demolition work planned between now and then.

An architect and a civil engineer testifying on behalf of the preservationists said Tuesday the building's structure had been weakened, but that it still could be saved with some additional retrofitting for earthquake protection.

Developer Karl Diaz-Hoffman, president of the Oakland, Calif.-based Nationwide Capital Services, also testified that he was prepared to move forward with his $23 million proposal to rehabilitate the Mapes for senior housing.

The City Council, when it approved demolition in September, rejected Nationwide's plan and others on the basis they were not economically feasible nor the best use of the land at the center of the city's redevelopment efforts along the Truckee River.

Patrick Clauss, president of Clauss Construction of San Diego, said his demolition crew preparing the Mapes for the implosion won't be finished with their work until two or three days before Jan. 30.

He told reporters after Hardesty's decision Tuesday that he typically recovers salvageable material like bricks, pipes and aluminum and bundles them up for sale.

But he said he wants to do something for the people of Reno who feel an attachment to the building.

"Some people want it for historical reasons, some want it for emotional reasons," Clauss said.

"A dollar a piece pretty much covers the cost and is cheap enough so someone can have a souvenir," he said.

City spokesman Chris Good said the city has rights to any historical artifacts, such as Mapes signs, and will be collecting those "in the interest of historic preservation."

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the Mapes the most vulnerable historic building in the country.

During its heyday in the 1950s, Sammy Davis Jr., Mae West and the Marx Brothers performed in the window-walled Sky Room, with its views of the Sierra Nevada.

Last month, Hardesty granted a temporary restraining order while he considered preservationists' arguments that the City Council violated open meetings laws in reaching its vote to demolish the Mapes.

But he later decided that while the council broke those laws, it corrected its errors in time to issue a binding decision, and he lifted the restraining order.

Preservationists appealed that decision to the Nevada Supreme Court, which refused to issue a temporary stay on the demolition work and is unlikely to consider the merits of the case for several months.