Council poised to demolish historic landmark

Four of seven Reno City Council members said they'll likely vote Monday to tear down the Mapes Hotel, which has stood shuttered on the banks of the Truckee River since closing in 1982.

City staff members recommend that the council reject three offers to save the hotel, citing "a lack of sufficient quality."

Mayor Jeff Griffin said the fate of the Mapes has been hotly debated over the last decade and he doesn't believe the city would gain anything by seeking more proposals.

"The entire city is fed up with this," he said. "We have gone through a lengthy process."

Councilwoman Sherrie Doyle said she wants to go ahead with the wrecking ball.

"It's been 17 years and we still haven't been able to come up with a financially viable proposal," she said. "I'm holding out for a New Year's Eve implosion."

But the Truckee Meadows Historic Trust, which has rallied on behalf of the Mapes, urged the council to approve one of the three last-ditch plans to save it.

The group is hailing an offer by Nationwide Capital Services of San Francisco to buy the hotel for $2.2 million and convert it into a $19 million retirement home.

"(The offer) is very, very valid," said group spokesman Dave Ward. "Clearly, there is a need for that."

But dozens of plans to save the Mapes have fizzled over the last 17 years, leaving the council no choice but to tear it down to pave the way for downtown redevelopment, Doyle said.

Last year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the landmark to its 10th annual list of America's most endangered historic places.

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

The Reno Historical Resources Commission will ask the council Monday to add the Mapes to the City Register of Historic Places.

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