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LAS CRUCES -- Older doesn't mean unstable.
An initial engineering study conducted on the 123-year-old Amador Hotel has determined that the historic building remains structurally sound and plans can proceed to renovate a city landmark into a multiuse center that could be used for downtown events in years to come.
"They weren't kidding when they said people in those days built things to last," said Jaime Lopez, a 54-year-old lifelong city resident. "You kind of knew that the Amador would still be useable after all these years. I'm glad to hear that. Shoot, I'm old enough to remember when it was still used as hotel."
Through two centuries, the Amador was a hotel, a bank, and even served as the offices for Do-a Ana County government. In the 21st century, the goal is turn it into a place where weddings, family reunions, business meetings, luncheons and dinners, cocktail parties and art shows can all be staged. Plans also call for small museum to showcase Las Cruces' rich history, as well as a restaurant and bar.
Thumbs up
The future for the Amador got a whole lot brighter in a short, five-word sentence to the Las Cruces City Council.
"The building is structurally sound," said Richard Turietta, who just received his
Turietta presented the council with initial findings of a structural analysis conducted by NMSU engineering students. The Amador Museum Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed in 2006 with the goal of restoring the building and turning at least a portion of it into a museum, partnered with the NMSU Department of Engineering Technology and Survey Engineering to determine the worthiness of plans to renovate the building. City Public Services Director Lori Grumet said the partnership provided significant in-kind services that would have otherwise cost the city or the foundation about $100,000.
"Their contribution to this first phase of the project is very important," Grumet said. "Without it, there's really no telling just how long it might have taken to raise the money to pay for the type of work NMSU provided."
Turietta said joists and beams to the building's roof, balcony, and second-floor bedrooms and offices, and the columns in the old hotel's main hall were all analyzed. Except for joists in the bedrooms, all others were found to be structurally sufficient to today's design standards.
But Turietta added the reinforcement needed to bring the substandard joists into currently acceptable design standards shouldn't pose problems.
"Sure, there's still things that need to be done," Turietta said. "But those modifications would not require tremendous rebuilding or restructuring. ... The hotel is structurally sound and can be restored and adaptively reused."
Mayor Ken Miyagishima said the analysis was critical in helping city officials determine what can become of the historic building.
"It reinforces the early beliefs that the Amador can be reused and become an important part of our city once again," Miyagishima said.
The structural analysis leads to a myriad of activities that will need to happen before the building is completely renovated. Recommended "next steps" to allow for more public visibility to the building, offered by the engineering students, include completion of an environmental site assessment; expose the historic structure by removing all added architectural features that had been added to the building through the years; remove carpeting in some rooms; and remove the gypsum board ceiling in the building to expose the building's original roof.
Dollars needed
Dawn Starotska, executive director of the Amador Museum Foundation, said fundraising efforts can now begin in earnest.
"This is really exciting news," Starotska said. "We are now able to begin renting out the building for events. Hopefully, that in return will create more public interest in building and that could lead to more support and the public donations needed for the renovations."
The exact amount it will cost to renovate the Amador Hotel isn't yet known by city officials. Grumet pointed out that a report presented to city officials about a year ago by Kells and Craig Architects of Albuquerque included various price tags for different plans. Those estimates ranged from low of about $4 million to a high that could be slightly more than $11 million.
"But all of those estimates were based on today's dollars, what it would cost today to make those renovations," Grumet said. "This is a project that could take several years to complete and the completion will be contingent upon the foundation's fundraising efforts. We could also look at grants and other funding opportunities. But with the understanding that state funds are likely going to be hard to come by, or maybe even non-existent, so much is going to depend on how fund raising goes. If it takes years, as it's anticipated, the costs of improvements would almost assuredly change. So, that's why it's hard to even come up with a good estimate."
But Las Crucen Harold "Chub" Foreman, a member of the foundation's board of directors, said supporters of Amador are committed to seeing the Amador Hotel fully restored.
"It's such an important part of our community," Foreman said. "It's a treasure because of all of its rich history and tradition. Hopefully, people will get behind these efforts to restore one of very best things of our city."
Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452.
Restoring our past
• Plans can now proceed to renovate the historic Amador Hotel building into a multiuse events center for downtown Las Cruces.
• The building was constructed in 1887.
• A small museum, an area that could be used for smaller events such as small dinners, cocktail parties, weddings, and meetings, as well as restaurant and bar has been proposed as the uses.
• The Amador Museum Foundation is a private nonprofit organization formed in 2006 with the goal of raising funds to preserve the Amador Hotel and create a history museum.
• The building can now be rented for activities there, with proceeds being used to pay for renovations to the Amador Hotel.
• For more information about renting the Amador Hotel building, or about the Amador Museum Foundation, call Dawn Starotska at (575) 522-5884.
