Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
File photo The Hotel Clovis, opened in 1931, was once the tallest building between Albuquerque and Dallas. It will be converted into an apartment complex, with a ceremonial groundbreaking set for 11 a.m. Friday.
A shovel will hit the ground Friday morning, and a gate will be locked Friday evening.
The Hotel Clovis and the Clovis Municipal Golf Course are connected in few ways, but on Friday they’ll both take a significant step into futures different from their long histories.
At 11 a.m. Friday, there will be a groundbreaking at the Hotel Clovis, about a month shy of the building’s 80th birthday. It will undergo more than a year of construction to become the Hotel Clovis Lofts, a set of apartments city officials hope will help revitalize the downtown area.
When the sun comes down Friday night, public golfing ends at the nine-hole municipal course, a part of the city since 1929. The annual city championship follows on the weekend, and the final swings will take place during an Oct. 15 “End of an Era” tournament. Then it becomes absorbed by Hillcrest Park, part of the city’s plan to repurpose the golf course’s acres into youth sports fields, walking trails, a zoo expansion and even a dog park.
Both properties have a history of private ownership, and both have been under city ownership, though the golf course came to the city in much better shape.