Financing for Boots Motel purchase is secured August 15, 2011

Financing for two individuals to purchase the historic Boots Motel in Carthage, Mo., was approved Monday, and it is hoped the motel will partially reopen by spring, reported Ron Hart at the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce.

The BootsMotel.com website posted this message:

The Route 66 Chamber of Commerce is happy to announce that two Route 66 “Roadies” (fans of the Mother Road) have been successful in their effort to obtain financing to purchase the Boots Motel in Carthage, Missouri, and expect to close on their purchase in about a week from this date.  The buyers plan to restore the historic motel and re-open at least part of it by the Spring of 2012.

The new owners invite the media to tour the motel on Friday, September 9th. between 10am. and 4 pm., and the public is also welcome to attend the Open House that Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 4 as well.

The new owners are Debye Harvey, of Georgia, and her sister Priscilla of Illinois. Harvey possesses an impressive background in historic preservation. According to her resume:

With a Masters in Heritage Preservation, Deborah brings over 11 years of experience in the field of preservation, rehabilitation, and adaptive use of historic buildings and sites and 6 years of experience as the client’s representative and project manager for construction at historic sites. The majority of this experience has been work performed under her employer’s contract with the National Park Service (NPS), but she has also worked for small businesses and local governments. In addition, she has over 35 years of experience in the field of historical research. Deborah is conversant with, and supports, the requirements of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

Harvey found out about the motel after it was listed as one of the 10 most endangered roadside attractions by the Society for Commercial Archaeology.

Hart said he knew something was up when he saw a “sold” sign had been pasted over the property’s Realtor sign on Monday. He contacted Harvey, who was unaware of that development. She later confirmed the bank had verbally approved the financing agreement.

Carthage Hometown Bank bought the motel for $101,000 during a foreclosure sale in late June, after the motel was on the market for several months for $225,000. The Boots no longer operated as a motel, but as apartments.

The Boots a few years ago was sold, then reportedly would be razed for a Walgreens drugstore. Outcry from the Carthage Press newspaper, historic preservationists, and Route 66 fans scared Walgreens away.

The Boots Motel opened at Garrison and Central streets in Carthage in 1939. That was where Route 66 intersected with U.S. 71, and for many years was called the “Crossroads of America.” Reputedly, movie star Clark Gable stayed at the Boots overnight during a cross-country trip.

I’ll have more information as I get it …

UPDATE 8/16/2011: The Joplin Globe posted more information Tuesday morning:

The two sisters, after cruising Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2006, began talking about buying a motel on the highway to operate when they retired, Hunter said.

“Although not ready to retire yet, they felt that the Boots Motel was too good an opportunity to miss,” he said.

Bledsaw has a retail background and formerly owned a jewelry store in Decatur, Ill., where she lives. Harvey lives in Decatur, Ga., and is the proprietor of a consulting firm involved in historic research and historic preservation projects.

The two plan to restore the Boots Court to its late 1940s appearance. The motel portion of the building is to be put back into operation as a “boutique motel” to provide visitors the motor hotel experience that was available in the 1940s and 1950s. The rear building, constructed in 1946, will be rehabilitated as offices, offering five spaces that will be available for leasing later this year.

MORE: Here’s an excerpt of an e-mailed statement from Harvey:

They plan to restore the Boots to its 1940s appearance, inside and out, and re-open the front building as a boutique motel, offering “a radio in every room.”  The rear building will be rehabilitated and repurposed as small office space in the near future and may be converted back to hotel rooms later.  Deborah and Priscilla look forward to working with the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, Carthage Historic Preservation, and the Route 66 community to put the Boots back on the map.

“We want to remind everyone, though, that this isn’t gong to be an overnight transformation.  It will take some time, possibly as long as three years, to get the Boots back to its historic appearance, especially since we plan that the work will adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties.

MORE: Harvey gave this answer by email when asked about the motel’s condition:

The good thing about the Boots is that, despite its obvious cosmetic flaws, it is in basically sound condition.  As a preservation professional, I have inspected many historic buildings, some more than two hundred years old, and have experience recognizing those that are going to require more than just a facelift to resurrect.  Although the systems at the Boots (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc.) are old, they are still working.  They require repair and will eventually require replacement, but that is not an immediate need, as far as I could tell.  So, upon inspection, I guess what appealed to me was that it appears feasible to put the Boots back into operation without a huge initial outlay of funds.  And, it seemed likely we could make it a viable commercial property again in a reasonably short time.  So, other than the fact of its existence, we were pursuaded by the relative ease of making it a profitable business.

The most pressing work at this time is cleaning it and securing the building envelope.  Hometown Bank has been most cooperative with our requests for hauling away trash and debris that had accumulated in the buildings, and they were also careful to retain anything they found that might have historical value.  We are very pleased with the willingness of Hometown Bank to work with us in this matter.  However, the building has not had much maintenance in quite some time.  Broken window panes (and some broken window frames) will need to be replaced.  Doors will neeed to be secured in their frames.  Some joists under the back building need to be strengthened or replaced, and the plumbing needs repair in that area.  We will need to ensure that the air conditioners are in working order.  After that, our next order of business will likely be addressing the removal of the gable roof.  The Boots cannot be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places with the gable roof in place, so we plan to remove it.  This likely means that the flat roof underneath will need to be reconfigured for better drainage and maybe reinforced for snow load.  We will be working with the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office to ensure we take care of this important feature in a way that will make the Boots eligible for the Register and also improve its function.

Our plan for the property is to rehabilitate the rear building for use as small office space for one- or two-person firms such as lawyers, real estate sales, insurance offices, or engineers and land survey offices, for start-up businesses who just need a small space and want to move out of the dining room, spare bedroom, or enclosed porch of their houses, or for not-for-profit organizations.  This use is compatible with the plan to restore the buildings to their 1940s appearance, and the rear building is the best choice for that plan because, in addition to the small office space, we can offer limited garage parking and storage space in the lower level.  The front building will be restored and re-opened as a boutique motel featuring the “1940s motel experience.”  However, this work is in the second phase of the plan, so the Boots will not be available as a motel in the Spring – only the small office space at the rear will be available.  We hope to lease the front office of the front building to the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce for their headquarters, so their office will be open, and tours of the Boots will be available to visitors so people can follow the progress of the restoration.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hart)