Urban renewal agency accepting proposals on historic Pocatello hotel in hazardous state of repair
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POCATELLO – Regardless of whether it’s able to be repaired or demolished, Pocatello’s urban renewal agency is looking for proposals to honor the history of a long-condemned building.
The former owners of the building that once housed the Monarch Hotel recently donated the building to the Pocatello Development Authority (PDA), an agency that oversees the city’s urban renewal areas. The agency is currently accepting proposals from developers detailing how they would redevelop the property, which has been occupied by the building since 1909.
“It’s kind of a hazard at this point, and it’s condemned, been sitting like that for a long period of time. …,” PDA Executive Director Brent McLane said. “(The previous owners) decided that the best thing would be to donate the building (because) the PDA has more tools and options … in looking for partners to invest into that property, to either rehab and restore it or to remove it and redevelop it.”
In September 2014, a raging fire virtually destroyed the building, located in Historic Downtown Pocatello. While firefighters were able to put the fire out and everyone inside was able to escape safely, the building was rendered uninhabitable.
“It is completely destroyed,” McLane said. “I mean, it’s open to the air. There’s no roof anymore on the building.”
“It’s structurally very unsound,” McLane said. “You can’t go into it without a hard hat. The floors are soft and squishy. The walls … aren’t to code anymore.”
The building is in an area zoned as Central Commercial, which gives developers a variety of options for how they would rezone the property.
“It allows for just about any commercial use. You’re looking at office uses, retail uses, and then also allows for residential uses in upper stories. So if someone wanted to put apartments on the upper stories, absolutely. There’s great desire for people to have living options in the downtown,” McLane said.
Proposals to redevelop the property are due by 11 a.m. Sept. 8. The PDA accepting a proposal would mean that the developer would purchase the property from the agency, and commence its plan for redevelopment.
These plans could be to salvage what’s left of the building, or to tear it out completely.
Due to the building’s current state, McLane said he expects that most of the proposals they’ll receive will be to replace it with a new building.
“My guess is that it’s going to have to be removed,” McLane said.
But despite this, the PDA is looking for a proposal that honors the building that came before.
“If they can’t provide an option to restore the building, (we ask) that they provide a proposal to rebuild something that will complement downtown and the existing monarch building,” McLane said. “Not necessarily replicate, but something that will fit in the downtown character, something that will add to the economic viability of downtown.”