(rshsdepot) Needles, CA: Rehabilitation to be focus of Needles El Garces Harvey House efforts

[Jim Dent <jdent1_@_optonline.net>]

 From the Interchange List...

Date: Sun, 09 Jan 2005 09:35:20 -0800
From: Paul S. Highland

NEEDLES (CA) DESERT STAR:

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=638&NewsID=599653&CategoryID=1393&on=0

Rehabilitation to be focus of El Garces efforts

Dec. 29, 2004

By LEE CHOQUETTE
News West

NEEDLES CA -- Rehabilitation, not restoration, should be the watchword 
for future development of the historic El Garces railroad depot, 
according to a man who reopened another former Harvey House as a 
functioning hotel and restaurant.  The Needles city council recently 
authorized city manager Richard Rowe to secure the services of Allan 
Affeldt, owner and manager of La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Ariz.

Like El Garces, La Posada was part of the chain developed by Fred 
Harvey, and it had also fallen into disrepair in recent times, until 
Affeldt reopened it. Rowe reported on his conversations with Affeldt at 
the general membership meeting of the Needles Area Chamber of Commerce 
on Dec. 9.

The city council had earlier agreed that El Garces should be developed 
into an upscale hotel and restaurant, and people today do not expect to 
share a bathroom with the other guests in the hallway at an upscale 
hotel, said Rowe.

Therefore Affeldt had suggested rehabilitation rather than restoration, 
or making the facility functional rather than an exact replica of its 
former self.

El Garces will also include a significant transit component, since the
federal grant paying for its rehabilitation is tied to transportation. 
Buses will stop there and it is hoped that passenger trains will once 
again call there.

Barbara DeGidio emphasized that the work being done on El Garces is 
funded mostly by federal grants and not out of the city budget. The 
grant requires a 20 percent match, according to Rowe, but this amount 
need not be in cash.  The time that city staff spend on the project, as 
well as any amount paid to Affeldt for his consulting services, count 
toward the 20 percent match, according to Rowe. All hard, out-of-pocket 
expenses are coming out of the other 80 percent.  Congress approved an 
additional $1 million for El Garces last month, bringing the total 
amount appropriated to about $5.5 million, according to Rowe.

With Affeldt's interest in moving the project along, Rowe expects at 
least some part of El Garces to be open within two years.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1062
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org