Historic hotel lands renovation funds

POCATELLO, Idaho – Less than two weeks after turning its back on preservation, local development leaders have reversed themselves and will provide $513,000 to renovate the century-old Whitman Hotel, a building made famous 50 years ago by Judy Garland.

The Pocatello Development Authority voted 4-3 this week to support the project that will turn the hotel into 51 units of affordable housing on the upper floors and commercial space on the first floor in the city’s historic Old Town district.

Developers intend to combine the city’s cash with $3.8 million in federal low-income housing and historic renovation tax credits and $600,000 from the Idaho Housing and Finance Association to underwrite the bulk of the $5.6 million project.

Advocates warned that unless the building was renovated it would eventually have to be demolished with the city footing that bill.

“For the last few days there have been some really intense discussions going on,” said City Council member Richard Stallings, the former congressman who once ran the city’s nonprofit neighborhood-building organization.

“This really was a no-brainer,” he said. “You either have a building that’s going to cost you $700,000 to demolish, or you put in $513,000 with the state and federal governments putting in $5 million, and you’ve got some taxable property.”

The hotel, built in 1905, once housed the Princess Theater made famous by Judy Garland during the 1954 film, “A Star is Born.”

In the movie, Garland sang, “I was born in a trunk at the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho.”

“It’s a huge project both economically and socially for the community,” said businessman Jerry Myers, one of the developers working with The Housing Company, a nonprofit Boise-based affordable housing organization.

Rejection of the plan earlier this month was based on limited resources and the desire to direct them toward other projects.