PORT ANGELES — Demolition to make way for a new hotel in downtown Port Angeles will begin in September, and a landmark downtown restaurant will be closing sooner than some had expected.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe plans to start taking down buildings at the site of its planned $24-million-dollar hotel project near Laurel street between Front Street and Railroad Avenue after Labor Day.
Meantime, hotel general manager Robert Utz informed the Cornerhouse Restaurant and Downtown Hotel Wednesday it’s executing a 30-day termination notice on the lease. In the memo to the owner’s, Utz said there may be an extension beyond the mid-August deadline.
The tribe purchased the building housing the businesses, as well as the nearby Necessities and Temptations building late last year. Necessities and Temptations closed and vacated its building in March. Those parcels were not part of the original plot to the east the tribe bought from the city to build its new hotel. Officials said they intended to develop the neighboring properties for economic purposes, including possible hotel expansion.
At the time, they said they would work with the Cornerhouse and Downtown Hotel to stay open unless it became necessary to remove the building for the new project. Utz says that time has come. In a press release, the tribe says they’ve determined all the structures in the area will need to come down and that work is expected to start in September. The tribe has submitted the application for a demolition permit to take down the Cornerhouse and Downtown Hotel building and already has permits in place for the other structures.
Utz says they had hoped to already start demolition of the former Budget Rent-A-Car, Olympic Bus Lines and Harbor Art buildings, but permitting was delayed. He says now their contractor is tied up on school construction projects elsewhere that must be finished by the end of summer.
In the press released LEKT Chairwoman Frances Charles wrote, “We are very anxious to get this project started and are
excited as the design plans emerge for our hotel. It will be beautiful and bring a sense of great pride for our tribe and the larger community. We understand that the disruption of businesses associated to our project is tough news but hope the community appreciates our longer term vision to be a part of the revitalization of downtown Port Angeles for future generations.”
The tribe plans a new, 100-room hotel on the property. The new hotel will include a restaurant and lounge.