Fate of San Bernardino's downtown hotel uncertain
By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- It's unknown when the city's downtown hotel will reopen for business.
"It is one of our great frustrations. To be blunt, I feel shined on by the owners," mayoral chief of staff Jim Morris said.
The Clarion-branded hotel, said to be owned by Bahrainian royalty, closed for business in the spring of 2008. Hotel management said at the time that ownership planned to invest more than $10 million into renovations at the property.
Renovation plans were said to be something that could be accomplished in 10 to 14 months, and that time frame has not yet expired. But Morris and San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau president Wayne Austin said Thursday that there's not a lot of information to around as to the hotel's future.
"(I) haven't heard anything on that," Austin said.
Phone calls to the hotel's listed number were not returned Thursday. A recorded message states the building is closed for renovations.
The high-rise hotel sits near the corner of E and Third streets in the vicinity of City Hall. The building is attached to the 22,500-square foot San Bernardino Convention Center.
The convention center has been dark while the hotel has been closed.
San Bernardino Economic Development Agency chief Emil Marzullo said following a Tuesday afternoon budget workshop with the City Council that it may be possible for the EDA to acquire the convention center from the city.
San Bernardino officials are considering the possibility of borrowing more than $5 million from the EDA to help solve the city's deficit. Council members make policy decisions for the EDA but the agency is technically separate from the city and has its own budget.
Marzullo said Tuesday that such a loan could be doable, but the EDA cannot persist as a perennial source of dollars for City Hall. The EDA would require the money to be paid back or to receive something of value for its dollars.
The EDA's responsibilities include attracting businesses to San Bernardino. Morris said operating the convention center is probably more in line with the agency's mission than City Hall's.
Austin said other San Bernardino hotels along Hospitality Lane have been doing pretty well lately, and that downtown San Bernardino needs an active convention center.
"We're losing things like proms and winter formals and dances," Austin said. "We've gotta make something happen and get it back in operation."
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Andrew Edwards. E-mail Andrew here.
OK, life living under a rock as I now feel I do, has not been too bad. You are limited to the exposure of bad news as well as good news. Under my rock here in San Bernardino, I need not worry about missing out on any GOOD NEWS of SB because there has been only slim to none coming during these last 3.5 years. Case in point, the downtown Clairton Hotel being closed for a period of time and the City leadership is clueless about the specifics surrounding this business endeavor. One good thing is instead of staying under a rock as I do, they just work in a mushroom farm where they are fed “stuff” and kept in the dark about the on-goings in the City to include the building right next door to City Hall. Talk about having your finger on the pulse of the City…I think NOT, which is exactly why SB is breaking records in self destruction. One has to ask the stupid questions of; how much tax revenue is being lost each month this hotel is closed? How much is being lost as a result of the City Convention Center being closed as a result of the hotel being closed? Who in the City is being held accountable for the status of these facilities? What steps are being taken to expedite the down time of these facilities and track and brief their reopening schedule?
Again we must ask…who is in charge at City Hall? Who is accountable? What is being done to stop the hemorrhage of the business loss especially downtown? There is no surprise to hear that the Mayor’s favorite son blames the EDA for the Convention Center’s closure. After all, this is an election year and it is customary to affix blame on the City Leadership’s short comings on anyone or anything instead of accepting the fact that certain members have been asleep at the wheel in directing and leading San Bernardino and the results (in part) are reflected as one drives E Street.
Perhaps exploring converting the Central City Mall into a satellite department of a Home Depot type of store where plywood, hardware and paint and supplies can be readily made available to board up what few business establishments are left in downtown and to help keep graffiti under control. In doing so, the City P/D would not have to patrol the empty mall as often and there could be a small savings as a result.
If this comes to pass, I can only hope they do not disturb my rock as I am getting comfortable under here now as I await the next surprise that will no doubt come soon.
Don't worry about the existing high-rise hotel which the EDA spent millions on a decade or so ago. Our latest well-paid city consultant says we can build a new Plaza Hotel next to the proposed $30 million County Government Building and new City Hall at the Carousel Mall.
Maybe we could use the existing hotel as a homeless hotel, since that is all a new government Taj Mahal will attract.