Visitor slowdown has historic Boulder City hotel needing money

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

The remodeled Boulder Dam Hotel was built in 1933. The hotel needs a cash infusion of up to $60,000 to make it through the summer, which is its traditionally its slow season, its managers say.

By Jean Reid Norman

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 1:59 a.m.

Boulder Dam Hotel

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Map of Boulder Dam Hotel

1305 Arizona Street, Boulder City

Boulder Dam Hotel

The first time Bill Ferrence stepped into the lobby of the run-down Boulder Dam Hotel in the mid-1970s, he loved the old building despite itself.

There were trenches in the basement for plumbing, he said, and a series of owners had been through trying unsuccessfully to make a go of the dilapidated hotel.

His love led him to help organize the Boulder Dam Hotel Association, which since 1993 has raised $3 million to bring the hotel back to its splendor of the 1930s and 1940s, when it hosted movie stars and world leaders.

The renovated hotel, now owned by the nonprofit Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, was on track to be self-sufficient, said Ferrence, the association’s president.

But the recession has hurt the hotel’s occupancy rates, as it has hotels on the Strip, he said. That drop has been the difference between financial health and crisis, he said.

The Boulder Dam Hotel needs a cash infusion of up to $60,000 to make it through the summer, which is its traditionally its slow season, Ferrence said.

In the early days of fundraising in the 1990s, Ferrence said, people could stand on the first-floor landing and see the sky through the roof, which had been torn off to be replaced.

“It was easy then to convince people that we needed money,” he said. Now, as he sat in the hotel’s well-appointed lobby with polished wood and classic furniture, Ferrence said, “Our success is a big problem. We’re in bad financial condition, and it’s hard to tell that when you come for events or lunch or to stay at the hotel.”

The hotel has become a center of the city’s downtown historic district, he said, and closing it is a prospect that no one wants to see.

“There are a large number of people who have said, “'We can’t let that happen,'” Ferrence said.

Three weeks ago, the historical association sent letters to supporters asking for donations of $1,000 apiece to raise the capital the hotel needs, Ferrence said, as so far the response has been good. As of last week, he had checks for $10,000 in hand and commitments for several thousand more, he said.

The historical association has more than the hotel’s future at stake. Its Boulder City Hoover Dam Museum occupies part of the mezzanine and its archives are kept in the basement. In addition, the Boulder City Art Guild has its gallery in the hotel. Both would be without a home if the hotel was forced to close, Ferrence said.

The need for the hotel to remain open is clear, board member Darryl Martin said.

“The hotel is an icon of what Boulder City was and is,” he said. “People understand the importance of this icon.”

One option, Ferrence and Martin said, would be to close the hotel -- at least or the restaurant and museum -- for a couple of months. That would save on payroll but the mortgage, insurance and other overhead costs still would come due.

Ferrence called that Plan B, but “not what we want to do.” He is afraid the time the hotel is closed will hurt its long-term business.

The final option is to close the hotel and walk away, Ferrence said, adding, “We’re a ways from that.”

Longtime hotel supporter Linda Faiss, a former board member, said the community has too much money and sweat equity invested in the hotel to allow that to happen.

“I think that Boulder City had gone to extraordinary steps to save it,” she said. “It’s a much better investment now than it was then. It’s too good to lose.”

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By happy_in_bc

June 29, 2009

12:45 p.m.

Flag

Pleading for donors... that is just unfortunate. Over the past 9 years the Hotel has dumped two exceptional restaurants and settled on a "tea-house-lady" for its culinary fare. There's also the basement lounge area that in the not so recent past, was continually full on the weekends. Both the highly risque' Calamity Jayne's Underground and modern music supporting Mateo's Underground, as well as the upstairs restaurants of their day, where popular when the "octogenarian BC Guard" tolerated it. Tea snacks, and an empty lounge are what we are presented today.

It's no wonder that the global economic crisis is threatening the Hotel as it apparently seems to be... Average, 25-50 y.o. locals and their families have been all but erased from the hotel property's target market in preference to fast dwindling tourist buses and a small set of eclectic elder cultural enthusiasts.

Mr. Ference, you sir are well respected in the community and have made a great impact to the City of Boulder City... Re-address the strategic business and market direction of the Dam Hotel and give us locals a reason to bring our ducats to the establishment in the form of spending and not pan-handled donations.
By cpo

June 29, 2009

1:25 p.m.

Flag

This comment is right on the money. The Hotel took a decidedly different direction in the last year or so. And it was the wrong direction. People lined up on Friday and Saturdays nights to get into Matteo's, yet the lease was abruptly canceled. When i asked what was going to happen with the bar , I was told it was to become a piano and Cabaret bar. Isn't that something from the 40's ????? Good luck. This should actually be a busy time for the Hotel if they bothered to cater to the boater crowd, but they don't.
Unfortunately the only people this hotel caters to are the old retired crowd who have one thing in common they don't spend any money.