Print
E-mail
Share
digg
Newsvine
Facebook
Stumble
Technorati
reddit
Fark
twitterLength of stays at motel an issue for arts district
Steve Marcus
The City Council, expected to vote Nov. 4, could overturn the Planning Commission’s rare rejection of a proposed zoning change.
Friday, Oct. 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- First Friday a celebration of art, community (8-11-2009)
- Art’s less a thing apart (4-3-2009)
- Welcome back to (a cooler) First Friday (9-4-2008)
- Mayor Goodman gets national honor for supporting the arts (6-24-2008)
- Goodman puts his money where his mouth is — backs First Friday (3-21-2008)
- El Cortez joins First Friday (2-27-2008)
- Two bucks could keep festival hopping (1-14-2007)
- Take Five: Comparing First Fridays (6-7-2007)
- First Friday: Street festival or art event? (2-9-2007)
- The death of an arts scene? (8-11-2006)
- Cool art for a hot Friday (7-11-2006)
- First Fridays word spreads (4-16-2006)
- Downtown Arts District finally becoming reality (10-8-2003)
- Artists’ Block: Funkhouser’s First Fridays seize downtown scene (2-6-2003)
Sun Coverage
Downtown residents have lined up against a motel’s plans to convert many of its rooms into “extended stay” quarters.
The plan to lure stay-by-the-week customers to the Econo Lodge, 1150 S. Las Vegas Blvd., they say, would attract the wrong “element,” including drug addicts and dealers, prostitutes and the sometimes homeless, and change the demographics of the area, harming the arts district to the west and the residential John S. Park neighborhood to the east.
“They adversely affect the businesses around them,” said Cindy Funkhouser, the First Friday arts walk impresario and owner of an antiques store near the motel. “It’s not something a lot of people who live in the area are comfortable with.”
Funkhouser and several others attended an Oct. 8 Las Vegas Planning Commission meeting to express their opposition to the plan. The commission — which rarely recommends against proposed planning and zoning changes — heeded the concerns of Funkhouser’s group and voted the proposal down 3-1.
The City Council, slated to vote on the matter at its Nov. 4 meeting, could ignore the commission’s recommendation and approve Econo Lodge’s request.
The commission vote seemingly puts at odds two council priorities — nurturing the development of downtown into a safe and interesting place where people actually want to live, and preserving a business that has survived there for years.
One of the co-owners of the Econo Lodge, Yair Ben Moshe, said the concerns of critics are unfounded — and that if his opponents succeed, the motel’s survival and the jobs of its 15 employees would be at stake.
Ben Moshe and his architect, Dennis Rusk, contend that the rooms would be used primarily by businessmen, laborers and others looking for work.
“It’s a shame that they’re taking the position that they want us to go out of business, because that is what’s going to happen” if the proposal fails, Ben Moshe said. “We’re trying to do nothing but survive in this economy.”
The motel, between Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street just south of Charleston Boulevard, is seeking permission to turn 40 of its 120 rooms into extended-stay residences. That would allow the rooms to be rented for a week to a month. Without the permit, guests typically cannot stay at such establishments for longer than a couple of weeks. The permit would last for two years.
Ben Moshe said he needs to be able to offer lower-priced extended-stay rooms. With the price of Las Vegas hotel rooms dropping, the property is having a difficult time competing with lower-priced casino-hotels such as Palace Station and the Riviera.
Ben Moshe said he’s made sure that his property, the exterior of which was recently remodeled, has not turned into a home for day users, drug users or prostitutes.
According to a Metro Police spokeswoman, police received four calls from the Econo Lodge over a recent 30-day period, including two about auto burglaries, and one about malicious destruction of private property.
The motel is in a gritty part of downtown and surrounded by another motel, an auto garage and a strip club. The neighborhood is part of the city’s redevelopment area, where the city offers tax incentives to attract businesses and generally make the area more livable for workers and residents.
“The RDA philosophy should be to reduce blight and enhance quality of life. This proposal doesn’t do that,” said Steve Franklin, a Realtor who specializes in downtown properties. “It’s going to add to the transient nature of the neighborhood.”
Franklin joined Funkhouser at the Planning Commission to oppose the plan.
Both sides said that they plan to lobby the council in the coming weeks, including Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese, in whose ward the motel is located. Reese could not be reached for comment.
Discussion: 28 comments so far…
Post a comment
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Corrections officer with Metro killed in U.S. 95 crash
- System fails to catch contractor’s family tie with county
- Where to watch UFC 106
- The pull of a drug, a push to the brink
- Findlay guard Joseph scores 33, talks about UNLV
- UNLV and Southern Illinois will be guarded tonight
- Bishop Gorman takes Sunset Region title in win over Cimarron
- Fighters make weight, Dana White talks Rampage/Rashad
- Basic’s magical season continues with trip to state semifinals
- Reid clears major health care hurdle, daunting weeks ahead
Blogs
Culture and Entertainment
UFC 106 walk-in music: Griffin changes his tune, secures win over Ortiz
The Kats Report
For props, Lewis Black needs only his manic delivery and torrid material (7 Comments)
Elsewhere
Sands China raises $2.5 billion in Hong Kong IPO (2 Comments)
Marquardt v. Sonnen scheduled for UFC 109
Bloggity, Bloggity, Bloggity
Will a fourth consecutive title by Jimmie Johnson be good or bad for NASCAR? (4 Comments)
Top Chef: Las Vegas
The Jet Stream: And then there were four
Top Chef Episode 12: On keeping it simple
- Live chat
- Tuesday, noon PST
- Chat with Krista Creelman
- Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question
Calendar »
- 22 Sun
- 23 Mon
- 24 Tue
- 25 Wed
- 26 Thu
-
The Four Tops at The Orleans Showroom
Orleans Hotel-Casino
-
The Chase at Downtown Cocktail Room
Downtown Cocktail Room | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Lady Gaga album release party at Revolution Lounge
Beatles Revolution Lounge | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Food drive at Christian Audigier
Christian Audigier The Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Above & Beyond at Moon
Moon Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Good luck. It won't happen unless your name is siegal. He has all the politicians staying at his "Resort at Mt Charelston" Went there over the weekend, the Mt Charelston lodge is better. We don't need another hotel closed.
That would a step backward both for the area and the business. The economy is bad, for sure, but I doubt Moshe's business is going to revive substantially by allowing extended stays, unless he does not ask questions about his residents. We have enough motels and hotels here already that are half-empty. I hate to see people lose their jobs, God knows we need them here. But, let's plan for a viable long term solution to Vegas' economic woes and stop putting bandages on things.
The plan to lure stay-by-the-week customers to the Econo Lodge, 1150 S. Las Vegas Blvd., they say, would attract the wrong "element," including drug addicts and dealers, prostitutes and the sometimes homeless, and change the demographics of the area, harming the arts district to the west and the residential John S. Park neighborhood to the east.
"They adversely affect the businesses around them,"
The ART District do not want anybody cutting in there bushiness you now art vase shaped in what ever drug so you can take home
How exactly does Ms.Funkhouser know for certain that allowing extended stays will make the hotel a home for pimps, prostitutes and druggies? Holding art walks makes her an expert on this topic?
The hotel owner says that he makes certain that his hotel doesn't turn into such a dive. What are her grounds for calling him a liar?
I once worked as a hotel night auditor. Any hotel sees all kinds come in. Good hotel operators can easily make certain that their place doesn't turn into a hot pillow joint. Mr. Moshe says he is doing just that. How has Ms. Funkhouser established that he is not?
If she wants to slander the man and drive him out of business, she had better have something more solid than a condescending attitude.
Right---so perhaps Ms. Funkhouser thinks the EconoLodge should focus on convention business, given its location in the middle of Naked City and its size? Come on. An argument *could* be made that extended stay hotels are potential breeding grounds for crime, but that's not the issue before the council. So long as extended stay hotels are legal--and they are--the owners of the EconoLodge should be allowed to convert their property as long as they obtain the proper permits, which they're clearly doing.
When I was down and out - I stayed at one of these flophouses. Bleak and depressing. Every day.
An arts district this is not. Decent idea, poorly executed. Mayor O needs to rethink it. Maybe move it closer to downtown to increase the pedestrian traffic, expand it to an "arts, theater & cafe district" by encouraging some independent theaters and small cafes/coffee shops to open up as well. Keep the gambling & bars to a minimum. As for the EconoLodge, so long as they keep it up and keep it clean, it should be their choice.
I see no valid reason to mandate duration of guest stay. Even if there is some arbitrary time limit, what is to keep someone from checking out and then checking right back in?
Who cares if someone stays one day or one hundred days? It's an Econo Lodge, it is what it is.
Would you pass an ordinance that McDonald's cannot serve someone who looks homeless?
The neighbors seem to prefer empty, boarded up buildings?
I guess the picture says it all. A guy walking by with what looks like a trash bag. I once got the bright idea to rent a budget type place in downtown Phoenix because it was a short walk to my job in a high rise. Mother of God, the pandemonium and non stop midnight partying was astounding. I was gone in a week. Where these people come from, I have not a clue. But I'm sure they're here in Vegas, too. They have to live somewhere, as they breed like feral cats, but maybe we should control it somehow. Like Animal Control.
Extended Stay in this particular area...is simply code for "BY THE HOUR". A pimp will rent a room by the month and sublet to the hookers and johns by the hour.
Just do the math: A hellhole- ho'tel that rents for $175 per week - for a studio with maybe a mini bar size refrigerator and no kitchen. The peeps that live week to week are drawn to these places because they got kicked out and evicted from everyplace that requires a lease and up2date Equifax. It's great money ($30-40k per month at 80% occupancy) for the owner as long as they can stay alive.
They lock down the lobby and install a 2" plexiglass slot for "guests" to check in/out.
so the scumbag residents of downtown dont want other scumbags living down there
"doubledown" above is totally correct. These places are nothing more than fronts for druggies and hookers. Funny how the owners seem to have strange foreign type names. Guess they're bringing their lifestyle to the US. Pitiful...
What I see in the picture is a man with a backpack and another bag of some kind. Possibly expensive running shoes; clean and new whatever they are. Perhaps he has his art supplies in the bags.
The Econolodge in the background looks clean and decently kept up. No trash in the parking lot, for example.
As I said, it's the management that determines what kind of place it is. Some owners let a place slide into being the kind of dive that a few commenters have described, but that doesn't mean every owner will. A good and conscientious owner/manager keeps up the quality of the place. Just because one person is a slumlord doesn't mean all owners are irresponsible.
It's up to Mr. Moshe to see to the future of this business. He has recently remodeled the place, so he seems to care. He sounds like exactly the kind of person we should want running a local business.
The "Art" industry is one of the biggest criminal rackets in the history of the world; like that 4" Glass Vase or 6" Dinner Plate is REALLY worth $3 million dollars; what a racket!
I've stayed there years ago, the place wasn't bad. It was clean and the service was good, the place was empty though. Turning it into a monthly rental might be the only way for the owner to survive but it will definitely bring in the scumbag element.
Introducing that sort of business into an area that is revitalizing and on the way up does not make any sense. Weekly's, pawn shops, adult book stores, payday loan spots, and liquor stores are highly undesirable.
Regulating business development and growth is what good government does.
If there are pimps junkes hookers and tit bar in the area it will not change. Maybe the Art district should move to a Nicer place.
Bad places, undesirable places change. It happens all of the time. Sometimes it is urban renewal sometimes gentrification but it does happen. And that area (and the entire urban core of Las Vegas) is a good example of this change.
IN LAS VEGAS *DAILY-WEEKLY* IS SPELLED
M-E-T-H
C-R-A-C-K
S-M-A-C-K
In other cities, they are LEGITIMATE business and REAL economy-tourist havens for REGULAR financial reasons.
In Las Vegas, these places don't have anything REGULAR about them, other than the WARNINGS given to you by ANYONE YOU ASK.
I can't imagine wanting to stay in this seedy part of town. The Stratosphere has that problem too. Drive out the back side of the parking garage into a scary neighborhood commonly seen on *COPS*. When I worked in LV, we used to stay in the "garden rooms" at Palace Station for less than 30 a night. 20 if you didn't mind being next to the loading dock. Not a bad area. While the Econo looks clean, who knows what lurks at the nearby strip club. It's funny that the "neighbors" are complaining about the motel, which may actually be an improvement to that area. When I stay in an inexpensive motel in a strange town, I generally look at what's nearby. If it's near higher priced motels and restaurants, it's usually O.K.
Very good points, Bakersfield. Why isn't Ms. Funkhouser addressing the real problem? Perhaps it's too hard for her, so she's taking the easy way out and going after a soft target, an innocent businessman who is remodeling his place and making it better, and who is trying to develop an innovative strategy to help him survive in hard economic times. It's always easy to tell other people how to run their business, isn't it?
Gentrification is a good point to mention. I have served on the boards of several arts organizations in urban areas. When arts districts form, there is a sensitive issue about the effect on those who already live and work there. Gentrification can cause long time residents and businesses to be displaced. We always sought to avoid this displacement, and to be good neighbors. Ms. Funkhouser has quite a different attitude. She seems to say "___ 'em, let 'em go bankrupt."
The ironic thing is that as arts districts mature, property values change, and art galleries themselves frequently get pushed out by landlords who see more profit in other uses. At the very least, rents are raised drastically. Then the artists take quite a different view.
The owners of Econo Lodge have spent some money to spruce up their property, which is very nice to see. But, as business owners, did they really do their homework? I cite two examples of hotel proprietors that appear to have done their homework, El Cortez Cabana Suites, and The Artisan. Two hotels in unlikely, and for many people, in undesirable locations. The Artisan is bordered by the valley's busiest freeway, I-15 and a busy surface street, Sahara. They took a run of the mill hotel and turned it into magic. A check of their rates indicate they are doing a pretty good business. A check of their web site shows if you want to stay on an off peak night, midweek, 10/20/09-10/21/09, you will pay between $89-$179. This is with a location that is somewhat loud with traffic noise, no easy access to the strip, (except by car) and in close proximity to several light industrial warehouses, and strip clubs. They have overcome several obstacles to become an extremely desirable boutique hotel in an unlikely area.
El Cortez Cabana Suites has also turned a risky location into a gem of a place to stay. It is steps away from what many people consider to be a pretty seedy part of town, on Ogden, near Las Vegas Blvd. I have checked for rooms twice in the past 4 months, only to find the weekend I was searching for already sold out. The midday rate there for 10/20/09-10/21/09 shows pricing between $30 and $48. Rates go as high as $80 a night there. Cabana suites is another perfect example of a success story in a challenging location.
Both of these hotels are a feather in the cap for the areas they do business in. In the case of El Cortez, it is my hope that they will be an inspiration to owners of similar properties in the area to continue to raise the bar, thusly, continuing the upward trend Downtown Las Vegas has been experiencing.
The owners of Econo Lodge knew the zoning of their property when they bought the place. They have 2 outstanding examples of hotels that seem to be doing a brisk business in a down economy, with challenging locations. They admitted at the planning commission meeting they bought this for a flip. It is currently listed for sale, $12 mil. It seems to me it would be better for them, and the area, to get creative, follow the lead of The Artisan and El Cortez Cabana Suites. Think boutique, instead of weekly. If they did the right improvements to their property, they could command a higher price per room, increase cash flow, and make their property more appealing to a potential buyer with solid numbers such as low vacancy rates and higher room rates. They might even inspire other nearby hotel operators to do similar improvements, which could very possibly raise the property values for everyone. The game of flipping downtown properties for land values are over. It's time to think long term, it's time to consider what's best for the area as a whole. Short term "solutions" can cause bigger problems in the long run.
Well said downtownsteve. Good post.
There are facts about this situation that are -- Surprise! -- being either ignored or distorted by the anonymous commenting here. It makes one wonder ... What do these anonymous commenters stand to gain, financially or otherwise, if this motel is permitted to have so-called extended-stay residents? We don't know their names, so for all we know, they are the owners of the property.
This property was recently sold to the new owners. This property and its zoning was in place long before the new owners purchased it, and they, by law, were aware of exactly what they were buying when they bought it.
The new property owners are now, within a few short months of taking ownership, asking for a zoning change to permit a use that is otherwise not permitted.
Shouldn't they have thought this through before buying? Many real estate purchases are sold with a contingency, but they chose to buy first and then petition for change. I would never deny them their right to ask for such a change, but others who have a vested interest in the area also have a right to be heard in opposition. Why are these folks being attacked in these comments?
The Arts District, John S. Park, the Office District .. all of these areas are making slow but sure progress. While I don't agree with all of the positions taken by Cindy and other area advocates, I definitely agree on this one: Extended-stay motels are, simply, scary places where the fringes congregate. Steve had the most useful comment, and remaking the property into a cost-efficient boutique hotel would be most welcomed.
Reza, before you venture into more paranoid conspiracy theories, try switching to the decaf. You do realize that 99.999% of all comments on all stories on this site are anonymous, right?
I, for one, have zero interest in the property. I do however have several years experience in the hospitality industry, and several decades experience in the business world. I know that facile and superficial one-size-fits-all prescriptions for how someone else should run their business (make it a boutique!) are, as a rule, 99.9% BS. If it's such a golden opportunity and surefire moneymaker, do it yourself.
So they bought and then petitioned for change. They should have petitioned first? On what legal standing? Many, many businesses are saved and improved that way. The fact is, they are remodeling and trying to save what would otherwise have become a failed and vacant eyesore.
Gee, I wonder if any of the opponents are hoping it fails so they can buy it on the cheap? Nah, it's not fair to venture into paranoid conspiracies. Unless your name is Reza.
The Las Vegas city council wants to keep this place open so they won't lose all that room tax. Also metro had 4 calls there last month well get ready because now there going to get 4 calls there a day. But hey just think of all the free advertisement this place is going to get on future episodes of COPS.
If there is going to be all that room tax, that means that the hotel is succeeding, right?
Four calls there last month, none of which appears attributable to the tenants. If somebody breaks into a car outside Ms. Funkhouser's store does that mean she's the problem?
I did some design consulting in Culver City. I stayed at an Econo Lodge to save money. They gave me a weekly rate. At no point did I turn tricks or take drugs. The police did not swarm the place at any point that week.
Boutique Motel is fine for the 2% of the population that frequents "Boutique". However "Boutique" also has about a 2-5 year shelf life. So it is in no way long term thinking.
The specific complaint has to do with duration of stay and price structure. I don't see how that is any business of anyone other than the owner/operator. He/she is the one that will suffer a flawed business structure.