After more than two years of inactivity, at least part of the project to restore the historic El Garces Hotel in Needles, Calif., finally will commence again, reported a recent story in the Needles Desert Star.
The holdup in the project was getting a ruling on whether a joint development agreement to allow for a transfer of the title of the building to El Garces LLC, which renovated and reopened La Posada in Winslow, Ariz., would be allowed by the Federal Transit Administration.
According to the Desert Star, El Garces LLC developer Alan Affeldt said the FTA wouldn’t allow the joint agreement, but would allow renovations for parking and a visitors center.
He said what that means is it’s highly unlikely any private investor will help with the project. It doesn’t matter how much time or money the private investor spends, they will have no security in that investment, which means no bank will back the project, he continued.
There was a conference call about a week prior to the city council meeting to see what should happen next, Affeldt said. There is still about $5 million in grant funding available, which is substantial; the catch is the city can’t spend it on anything such as restaurant or hotel. The city can spend that money on basic infrastructure and the shell of the building, he continued. […]
The recommendation is to spend the money and get as far as the city can and somewhere along the line perhaps a third party will want to participate, Affeldt said. About 80 percent of the architectural engineering has been done for the building and there’s already been a process for a construction manager. It is believed the city could go to bid with all those documents within a couple of months, he added.
It’s estimated that the entire building could be completed within a year’s time since the scope of work has been reduced, Affeldt said. There isn’t any reason the city couldn’t have all the money spent within a year’s time, he continued.
I’m just glad Affeldt had the will to keep going with this project. A lot of developers would have given up long before this.
El Garces was built by the Fred Harvey Company and Santa Fe Railroad in 1908. The hotel and restaurant closed in 1949.