Portales Inn plans on back burner

STAFF REPORT

Plans to restore the historical Portales Inn are still a dream, and making that dream a reality is easier said than done, according to local economic development officials.

Big plans for renovating the once-upon-a-time hotel, which has sat vacant for roughly 18 years, began in 2010 when a company called Maxwell Group LLC purchased the building with plans to turn it into a hotel with a restaurant and rooms to rent for event venues.

The hotel project suffered its first setback in May 2013 when Bob Morrow of the Maxwell Group died.

Later that year, the city of Portales began negotiating a contract with Taos-based Tierra Realty, the company that owns Hotel Clovis, which was turned into affordable housing in 2012.

Tierra Realty has had plans to turn the inn into workforce housing but has suffered continuous setbacks due to funding, including being turned down twice for grant funding through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority.

Roosevelt County Community Development Corporation Board Chairman Randy Knudson said Friday that funding is what the building is still waiting on.

“The building has great potential, but it’s going to take a considerable amount of money to make it work and ,unfortunately, money has been the issue,” Knudson said.

Knudson said Steve Crozier of Tierra Realty is still working with RCCDC on the project and plans to continue doing so as he has “invested a large amount of interest in it.”

“We are trying to find other sources of funding as well as talking to other developers who might want to be involved with it,” Knudson said. “There’s still an option there. We are still talking to some developers about different construction ideas. But, essentially, we are open to hearing ideas from other people if they have ideas about how that property can be used commercially.”

Knudson said RCCDC and Tierra Realty officials are by no means giving up on the building, because it has “unlimited potential.”

“The Portales Inn continues to be a major focus for both the RCCDC and the city of Portales,” he said. “It would just be such a great addition if we had some mixed-use apartments there.”