Last month, when I interviewed new Chamber of Commerce board member Bill Schwab, owner of Piedra Automotive on Piedra Road, he had commenting on the struggling Pagosa Springs economy, and mentioned the closing of the prominent Pagosa Lodge — once a key lodging property on the west side of town.
“We really, really need to promote the businesses that are members of the Chamber," Schwab had suggested. "We’ve had a great facility, for example, down here at the Pagosa Lodge. Why couldn’t we have gotten some grant money to help the owner revamp that — and turn it into a convention center, and then advertise that? Did anyone approach him, until the twelfth hour?
“Instead, they completely shut down the whole thing. It’ll never open again. It’s going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to open that back up."
 As it turns out, however, the Pagosa Lodge is re-opening for business this coming Tuesday. And I'm sure Bill Schwab will not be the only person surprised to see that happen.
"We just closed down for a couple of months, while it was really slow," explained Mona Calderon, the hotel manager, in a phone interview this week. "We'll be open next Tuesday. We have groups coming in, and it should be a real productive summer."
"The Lodge is still up for sale, of course, and I think everybody knows that.
"Basically, we just want to be more open and friendly — catering to the groups that are coming in. We have the Colorado Division of Wildlife coming in out of Denver, in May, and we have quite a few family reunions."
The Lodge has conference rooms — one larger room seating about 150 people and one smaller room seating about 35 — available for rent to community groups. The Lodge also has a commercial office space available, adjacent to the lobby. That space previously housed, over the years, the Plaid Pony Home Decor shop and various real estate offices.
The Chez Pagosa restaurant — which over the years has gone by numerous other names as well — will remained closed for the time being. |