National Trust pledges support in effort to save Mapes Hotel

The National Trust for Historic Preservation on Wednesday pledged its support to try to find a savior for the Mapes Hotel in downtown Reno.

Last year, the National Trust named the 51-year-old landmark to its annual list of America's most endangered historic places.

"The National Trust has not yet lost a site that has been named to this national listing - and we do not want the Mapes to become the first," said Richard Moe, president of the Washington, D.C.-based preservation group.

Moe said the National Trust will work with officials and supporters to find a "preservation-minded" developer and secure funding to protect the Mapes from demolition.

It was only 11 months ago that the city held a news conference in the parking lot of the boarded up building along the Truckee River to hail its salvation as a retail center and time share units.

But those plans fizzled this week when the city's downtown developer, DDR OliverMcMillan, said the project was too costly. The City Council set a Sept. 13 deadline for supporters to come forward with a viable plan to preserve the Art Deco building that has sat vacant along the Truckee River for 17 years.

Another developer, Holiday Hotel owner Barney Ng, and a group of others has offered the city $2 million for the property. Ng has said he'll save some architectural features of the Mapes, but otherwise plans to raze it. He has left his offer on the table while the city considers other proposals.

"Once a building like the Mapes is gone, it is gone forever and with it will go an important piece of Reno's past which could continue to be part of its future," Moe said.

The 12-story luxury hotel opened on Dec. 17, 1947, and became the place to see and be seen in the West. The window-walled Sky Room once attracted musicians, politicians, high rollers and Hollywood's elite: Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Bennett and Clark Gable.

But it closed 35 years later, on Dec. 17, 1982, and has stood shuttered along the banks of the Truckee River ever since.

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