boulder city:

City money could rescue historic Boulder Dam Hotel

Boulder City could dig into Redevelopment Agency coffers to help struggling downtown landmark

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

General Manager Roger Shoaff checks room availabilities on June 22 at the renovated Boulder Dam Hotel.

By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | 1 a.m.

Boulder Dam Hotel

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Map of Boulder Dam Hotel

1305 Arizona Street, Boulder City

Boulder Dam Hotel

Boulder City’s Redevelopment Agency could become a white knight to rescue the historic Boulder Dam Hotel from possible closure.

The RDA board, made up of the five City Council members, next Monday will consider a request from the hotel for $135,000 to help with its debt service, freeing up hotel money to stay open through summer months made leaner than usual by the recession. The meeting begins at 3 p.m. at City Hall, 401 California Ave.

The hotel, built in 1933, hosted millionaires, movie stars and royalty during its heyday in the 1930s and ’40s, but fell into disrepair in the 1970s and ’80s as it changed hands many times.

A nonprofit group formed in 1993 raised $3 million to restore the hotel to its former glory. It is now operated by the nonprofit Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, which runs a museum on the mezzanine and stores its archives in the basement.

The hotel was on its way to becoming self-sustaining, said historical association President Bill Ferrence, who helped start the effort in 1993 to renovate the hotel. But the recession has hurt occupancy rates, and the hotel needs $60,000 just to pay its bills through the summer, its traditionally slowest season, Ferrence said.

The association sent letters to supporters three weeks ago telling them of the dire situation and asking for contributions of $1,000 to keep the hotel operating, Ferrence said. Checks for $10,000 had come in by Friday with commitments for more, he said.

The money has to be available by early July to make payroll, food bills and the mortgage payments, Ferrence said.

Money is available in the redevelopment agency funds, Mayor Roger Tobler said. The question is what direction the council members want to go with RDA money. Councilman Travis Chandler in the past has insisted RDA money should be used to address blight and suggested that Boulder City close its redevelopment fund.

Tobler said he had not made up his mind, because he hadn’t heard the arguments pro and con yet. But after his meeting with hotel officials, he came away concerned.

“If we don’t help, it’s a big draw for downtown,” Tobler said. “If it goes, that would have a real negative effect.

“From where I’m sitting, I think we need to help.”

The hotel, which has 20 rooms and suites, had an occupancy rate of 68 percent last year, manager Roger Shoaff said. This year, that fell to 57 percent. He expects that to drop below 50 percent from July 4 to Labor Day.

Some employees have taken pay cuts and others are working extra, unpaid hours to help the hotel make ends meet, he said.

“We need the economy to turn around,” Shoaff said. “We need to be back above 60 percent.”

The hotel has limited options if it does not raise the money, Ferrence said.

The association could close the restaurant and museum for the summer and run the hotel on a skeletal staff, he said. But he fears if the hotel takes that route, it would hurt business in the long run.

The other option is to close it, he said, adding, “We’re a ways from that. There is a large number of people who have said we can’t let that happen.”

CORRECTION: This story was updated to reflect that the Boulder City Redevelopment Agency was to meet on Monday, not Tuesday. | (July 6, 2009)

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

By davidwayneosedach

6/30/09 at 10:02 a.m.

Suggest removal

And just maybe they will have to sell it. For a lot less than they think it's worth.
By LasVegas2009

6/30/09 at 11:59 a.m.

Suggest removal

Well it seems to me that if they start getting public money whats to keep them from using it to support there strip hotels? How do we know the money wont be used at the other properties? Maybe if they would have used past donations for this property they would not be having problems now. Did they use past donations to purchase or operate the strip properties? The cost of the other businesses are whats creating such a strain on this one. Throwing money down a hole.
By happy_in_bc

6/30/09 at 1 p.m.

Suggest removal

It's no secret that the BC RDA is a slushfund for a select group of influential proprieters in BC. Just another government backed bail-out....woohoo.

Milo's, Coffee Cup, CoC....

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we set out to deceive." Wm. Shakespeare

How does the BC Council and RDA not address the redevelopment of the hideous properties on the south corners of Nevada Hwy and Buchanan is beyond me. It seems as though saving a mal-managed hotel gets priority.

The drive from Railroad Pass to the Dam turn-off gets more depressing each year.
By cpo

6/30/09 at 3:41 p.m.

Suggest removal

More taxpayers money in a loosing operation ?? Why not just sell it. This is a bad precedent, and frankly hard to believe this is going on in a community that is 80% Republican. Subsidizing small businesses, now Hotels with tax payers money. AS I said before 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 Mateo's, yet the lease was abruptly canceled by the eclectic board members. This should actually be a busy time for the Hotel if they bothered to cater to the boater crowd, but they don't. When you ask them they actually discourage boaters, because they dont have the parking. Well if the thing is so vital to the City instead of forking over hundreds of thousands of OUR money, they should make arrangements to provide parking for boats on one of the money empty parking lots downtown, most owned by the city . On weekends you could afford to pay a Security guard a few dollars to watch the boats and trucks at night, and the place would be full. They would eat and drink there.
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.

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