The Apache Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, which had been scheduled to reopen this year, will remain closed indefinitely after the operator apparently put the property up for sale.
Here’s the gist I wrote for the Quay County Sun:
The Quay County Sun obtained a June email from operator Wade Dirr sent that stated the Apache Motel at 1106 E. Route 66 Blvd. was for sale for an asking price of $685,000 cash or $750,000 with a 50% downpayment and 20-year mortgage at 8% interest. […]
The email contained a lengthy list of items and tasks needed for the motel, including gravel for the parking lot, air-conditioning units, beds, tables, TV mounts, comforters, fire extinguishers, shower hardware, lamps, bedsheets, curtains and toilet supply lines.
It stated beds and furnishings were in place for 10 of the 24 units.
The property is owned by David Addink, who obtained the Route 66 motel in a real-estate swap in 2019. After months of work on the long-closed property, it apparently was put on the market.
Dirr can be contacted by calling 941-408-6671 or emailing wadefdirr@gmail.com.
In 2005, an Oklahoma investment group bought the property and rehabbed it, including repainting the huge black neon sign white. It closed less than a year later.
The motel, once known as the Apache Inn, was built in 1960.
(Image of the Apache Motel sign in 2013 in Tucumcari, New Mexico, by Thomas Hawk via Flickr)
I last visited Tucumcari on May 8, 2019. This property was in bad shape – rundown and deserted. I’ll guess the pandemic derailed the plans to reopen. I hope a new owner gives it a try. Overall, Tucumcari is in deep decline. I admire the folks attempting to stem the tide.