More on downtown Siloam Springs

The Siloam Springs Herald Leader ran an all-too-brief story this morning detailing a few other remodeling projects downtown.

The bane of the area has long been the Crown Hotel. This 1880 hotel functions more-or-less as a halfway house. Rooms are available for rent from one-night up to four weeks and include kitchenettes. It is a profitable business. It is an ugly building.

Many people in town take issue with the type of clientele the Crown serves. My problem rests mainly with the building’s appearance. The new owners, Larry and Kathy Muruaga, also purchased the neighboring and elegant Vintage Inn — formerly a building used by the International House of Prayer, a flea market and a bed and breakfast.

In the Herald Leader story by Jeff Della Rosa, Muruaga disappointingly notes that no major renovations are planned for the hotel. They are, as people move out of the rooms, replacing appliances and so forth. The exterior is not completely dilapidated, but it needs some significant attention. One or two additions on the back of the building should, in my opinion, be torn down. One can only imagine how disgusting the rooms are, judging by the scuzzy and broken mini-blinds in the windows.

Doug Duke, former Siloam Springs city engineer, is also remodeling a downtown building. I walked through this building — entirely vacant excepting a stripped Yugo on blocks and a cargo elevator — when looking at an adjacent building for a gallery space. Duke’s building needed a lot of work. The roof and floor were both rotten and unsafe. He plans to put two two-bedroom apartments in the building, which is attached to the backside of the former Daddio’s.

Now all we need is a usable system of sidewalks throughout the community so people can walk downtown.