Winthrop Suitors Line Up - Hotel In Mix

Will Winthrop news ever drop from my radar?  Nevermind.  The News Tribune today has a story about the new suitors for the Winthrop Hotel.  A.F. Evans hasn’t given up yet.  Others are coming along.  Most interesting is Quigg Bros. Inc’s potential plan to convert the building back into a hotel.  From the article:

Quigg, who now lives in Gig Harbor and has business interests in Tacoma, said he’s been observing the Winthrop discussion for a while, but decided just recently to try to assemble a team to buy and restore it. His parents honeymooned at the hotel and he feels passionate about his plan.

“The character of any city is defined by its finest hotel,” he said.

A major part of Quigg’s plan would be relocating the tenants who live in the building. In addition to restoring the hotel, Quigg is talking about spending $30 million for a parking garage, condominiums and affordable housing for displaced tenants. Quigg has been meeting not only with city officials and architects, but also with low-income housing advocates and church leaders. He hopes to put down money soon for a 120-day due diligence period, he said.

Interesting to me is a common thread I’m hearing in emails and conversations about the role of hotels in a city.  I received this email a few days ago:

A city is defined by it’s greatest hotel, with that said, Tacoma is defined as a 1 star at best—the Sheraton, or as a stretch a 2 star—the marriott. The revitalization of downtown must start with the hotel that was created as a four star hotel and should always be as such, not low income housing. It is in the center of downtown and if one has to ask where this apex is located, then they are as blind as the rest of the city.  Billionaires are cited as being the catalysts of the revitilazation of Tacoma by building skyscrapers, but these structures are lacking a couple of things, namely, soul and history. The Winthrop is where it all begins, it is embarassing to have to send prominent businessman and businesswomen to seattle and then return to Tacoma to conduct business…

We’ll see.  I have a feeling we’ll be talking about this for a while…  Any new thoughts today? 

Link to The News Tribune