It’s been a little busy around here what with taking the dog to the vet last week and my anniversary so I totally missed the fact that the Ahwahnee may be shutting down for awhile to undergo earthquake retrofitting. In fact, it could be closed as long as TWO YEARS!
Mercury News: On Wednesday, Yosemite officials requested $137 million in federal funding to overhaul the hotel as part of President Barack Obama’s stimulus program. The request was the largest item on a list of hundreds of Yosemite projects, said Scott Gediman, a spokesman for the park.
“The seismic retrofit of the Ahwahnee Hotel is a project we have had on the books for years. It has to be done,” Gediman said.
It isn’t clear where the Department of Interior, which oversees the national parks, will rank the Ahwahnee upgrade or whether it will be funded at all. Gediman said Yosemite leaders expect to find out by June if some or all of the money will be approved.
If the project does receive funding, it would take at least a year to begin construction, Gediman said, because of the time needed to obtain permits and allow people with existing room reservations to visit.
Concerns over the hotel’s safety were highlighted in 2002. That year, the National Park Service paid URS Consulting, a San Francisco firm, to complete a 250-page report looking at the hotel’s structural integrity in an earthquake.
How dangerous a big quake would be to the 81-year-old hotel is unclear, however. On Thursday, Acting Yosemite Superintendent Dave Uberuaga refused to release the seismic safety report to the Mercury News, calling it outdated. However, his spokesman could not cite any exemptions in the federal Freedom of Information Act that would allow the information to be kept from the public.
“It is 7 years old,” Gediman said. “The information could have changed in terms of what the standards are for the retrofit. If we release it we’d have to take out some of the numbers.”
Any shutdown of the Ahwahnee would present a major change for Yosemite and the economics of the surrounding communities. The hotel employs 300 people. Each year, thousands of tourists pay roughly $450 a night to stay there.
Last year, the park concession company, Delaware North, reported total gross revenue of about $125 million. Although the company does not release sales figures for individual businesses in the park, the Ahwahnee and its 123 rooms could bring at least $20 million a year, given its rates and 97 percent occupancy.
Closing the hotel could also shock the budget of surrounding counties. Mariposa County, where the hotel is located, last year derived $10 million of its $42 million general fund from the county’s 11 percent hotel tax.
Before anyone emails to ask, the hotel IS still open for business. The retrofit has yet to be approved and could take some time before it’s given the green light.
Photo by Loyd Schutte.
Comments
2 responses to “Ahwahnee Could Be Closed for Up To 2 Years”
I visited the Ahwahnee. I read about the $4 million dollar roof put on in 2003/04. I don’t understand why my tax dollars should be pumped into a hotel restoration. Historic Monument or not, it’s still a $439 to $1015 a night hotel. Why should a hotel get a free ride when they charge that much? It benefits the wealthy, and therefore, very few people in the US. If they cannot raise the money to retrofit it on that, then they should close it down. It’s a money sinkhole when the money can and should go elsewhere. Of course, if they really *need* the money, one stipulation I would recommend that all the rooms cost $99 a night. This is reasonable since we’re all subsidizing the cost.
Ah Joe, you didn’t read the article very well. Mariposa County generates 1/4 of it’s yearly budget in hotel taxes. That’s over $10 million. In turn Delaware North reported a $125 million profit of which the Ahwahnee could account for $20 million. The hotel is not owned by Delaware North but by the National Park Service and is leased by contract bid as is the rest of the commercial properties in Yosemite. This means a large portion of the money collected from the hotel actually goes back to the National Park Service. Hotels in National Parks are one of the few government endeavors (read: US Postal Service) that actually MAKE money and are a very good return of investment. Think of it this way, you put $4 million in, you got $30 million back. Not too shabby.
As for the $99 a night, well, sure would be nice to stay there but I’d rather the government not give away any more of my money to automakers who the public is smart enough not to buy gas guzzling cars from. Lets keep America profitable.