ALAMOSA — After having to respond to numerous break-ins, reports of trespassing, and four separate fires over the span of just a few years, the City of Alamosa has received confirmation that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be funding, in its entirety, the demolition of the Walsh Hotel.
Known locally as just “the Walsh”, the once-famous landmark hotel located near the intersection of State Avenue and 6th Street has deteriorated over time into a state of irreparable disrepair.
Rachel James, director of Development Services, says the demolition is scheduled to start on Oct. 9 and will be carried out under the supervision and management of the EPA via the EPA’s Special Emergency grant.
The actual demolition is only expected to take a day, which will cause a one-day closure of 6th Street as the building is brought down and materials are then trucked to the landfill where they will be placed in a section specially constructed to store hazardous materials.
The parking lot, where the Walsh is located, will be closed for approximately three to four weeks to allow for clean-up of the site.
City staff have been talking to the EPA since March, James says. Originally, the plan was to apply for a Brownfield grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Education (CDPHE) to fund the demolition, but that is a long and laborious process with no guarantee of the funding being awarded, given the competitive nature of Brownfield grants.
However, the city was “very persistent”, James says. The proximity of the Walsh to the downtown area makes it a real “eyesore." Even more concerning was the danger the Walsh Hotel presented to members of the public as city’s Public Works Department was having to board up and replace boards preventing entry to the building almost on a daily basis.
Also, the impediments to entry on the ground floor of the building, such as metal sheeting and bolts superglued shut to prevent their removal, led to people trespassing on the property via the second floor, which is, by far, the least stable part of the building.
After numerous conversations with CDPHE, the city was advised to approach the EPA for funding. James says there was some hesitation to work with the federal government on the project, due to the limited amount of money the EPA has for such efforts and the “huge section of the country” that funding was supposed to cover.
But, largely due to the persistent efforts of the CDPHE and their strong advocacy for the project, the EPA agreed to provide the funds and to manage the project to is completion.
“We really emphasized that part of this building is at risk of imminent collapse, specifically the second floor where people continue to gain entry. We told them we’re desperate. It’s going to collapse, and somebody is going to get killed.”
The EPA also made note of all the steps the city had taken on their own to “do the right thing” before asking the federal government to intervene, specifically buying the building when the absentee landowner refused to comply with demands to either renovate or demolish plus efforts by the city to address homelessness, as many of the people seeking shelter in the building were homeless.
“They could see that we didn’t just step back and do nothing but were really trying to do the right thing on our own.”
At the time, there was an amount of public pushback to the city buying the Walsh, but, as recent events have shown, the proactive steps the city took toward solving the problems themselves ultimately turned out to be a significant investment that saved the city a large expenditure of money.
The project is estimated to be funded at $1 million to $1.3 million, James says. Before the EPA stepped in, the city estimated they were looking at spending around $750,000.
“Getting this grant saves us three-quarters of a million dollars that we don’t have — anywhere — in the budget,” James says. “Now, we can start looking to the future.”
