May, 2004 - Page 1

Posted June 10, 2004

Before we get to the pictures, some opening date announcements! In the first week of June, the newspaper did their semi-annual status update on the Ormsby House. First up was this article from June 2nd about the progress of the construction, with Don Lehr giving a tentative opening date of mid-2005. The next day, June 3rd, came this article, talking about the owners getting gaming board approval. They also quoted Don Lehr saying that he hopes the hotel will open before the start of the 2005 legislative session. The casino, presumably, would open later.

This makes sense, since most of the state legislators and senators live in Las Vegas or other little towns scattered around the state. And when they come to Carson City for the legislative session, they get hotel rooms for the four months they’re here in the capital. Not only will the Ormsby House have the best rooms in town, but the OH is literally across the street from the Legislature Building. So if the Ormsby House can push forward and get some rooms open by then, I’m sure a lot of those folks will pick there to stay. That not only means a good deal of revenue, but also good word of mouth when the senators go home and tell everyone how fantastic the new Ormbsy House is. So I can see why they’re pushing to get it open by then.

The legislative session starts February 7, 2005. That’s eight months. We’ll have to see if they can pull it off!

Okay. Now on to the photos from May. We start this month in the front, where the scaffolding has been erected on the second floor. The east side of the tower has also gotten its first coat of plaster, the foundatation for the new stucco to come.

On the west side of the tower, plastering continues from the top down.

Once they scaffolded the south side of the tower, they started in on this white treatment. I think the wall there was a different material, so they needed to do this before it could take the plaster.

In the foregound of this picture you can also see the graveyard, where they’re storing the FakeRock™ they stripped off the building. I wonder if that’s going to get put back up?

On the north side, along Fifth Street, the scaffolding made another appearance.

Scaffolding was also erected along the sky bridge linking the hotel to the parking garage. This meant they had to close Curry Street yet again. I’m assuming it’ll stay closed until they’re done here.

From the backside you can see scaffolding running along the entire bridge

A bunch more this month.