The operator of the long-closed Apache Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, anticipates he’ll reopen the Route 66 business to overnight travelers by early spring.
I wrote a story in the Quay County Sun in Tucumcari:
Wade Dirr said in a telephone interview that electricians and plumbers were working on getting the lobby at least eight of the motel’s 24 units ready in the coming weeks.
“I’m looking at sometime around mid-March that we’ll open,” Dirr said. “We’re heading in the right direction.”
After the initial opening, Dirr anticipates having the remainder of the rooms ready for use by April.
Regarding the motel’s massive neon sign, Dirr said he’ll work on restoring it, but only after the motel is fully operational.
“That sign will be a staple to that town. I’ll make sure it gets done right,” he said.
Drawing inspiration from its name, he said the Apache Motel will use a Southwest-inspired décor.
Dirr and his former financial partner, Joanne Thompson, had planned to reopen it by late summer last year after buying it in 2019, but the difficulty in finding contractors and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the project.
Previously known as the Apache Inn, the motel was built about 1960. It closed not long after an Oklahoma investment company purchased it in 2006.
(Image of the Apache Motel sign in 2013 in Tucumcari, New Mexico, by Thomas Hawk via Flickr)