PENDER, Neb. (AP) - As is the case in many small towns, Pender’s Main Street is lined with older buildings that give hints of a time when downtown was a bustling commerce center.
The Palace Hotel at the corner of Main Street and Nebraska Highway 9/16 in Pender is one of those aging giants, a grand building built in 1892 that once upon a time had the reputation of being the nicest hotel between Omaha, Lincoln and Sioux City. Older residents remember when the town’s telephone switchboard was housed in the hotel lobby, and it was the place to go to buy train tickets.
Over the years, the building served as the Thurston County Courthouse before the current courthouse was built. It’s housed a bank and other businesses. But as time passed, the building’s fortunes changed.
In the 1980s, the second and third floors were remodeled into apartments, but they’ve been vacant for at least a decade after the roof began to leak.
Four years ago, the building’s owners decided that it was time to restore the Palace Hotel, and, in the process, hopefully bring back a little oomph to downtown Pender.
“Over the years, Main Street has really died. That’s our goal is to bring more action, more people down here,” said Candice Darling, who is overseeing the restoration of the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building has been in Darling’s family for decades, currently owned by her parents, Scott and Katie Darling. Before them, by Scott’s parents, Don and Valdine Darling. Valdine’s father, Fred Heese, owned it before that.
In 2012, the family hired an architect and began planning to restore the Palace.
“We kind of had no choice whether to let it deteriorate or fix it up,” Candice Darling said.
The Sioux City Journal (https://bit.ly/2gfoiFZ ) reports work began in April and is expected to be finished in March.
Once renovations are done to the Palace and an adjacent building that served as the county’s original courthouse, there will be more storefronts to go with three existing tenants, Northeast Nebraska Insurance Agency, Main Street Thriftique and Dregalla Family Dentistry.
The big draw is 16 apartments, ranging from one to three bedrooms, under construction on the second and third floors, a needed addition to a community with many growing employers and a limited housing market. The apartments will give new employees somewhere to live, perhaps leading them to put down roots and frequent the businesses on Main Street.
“My dad, before he passed away, had an ambition to develop (the Palace),” Scott Darling said. “It’s going to be a showplace, plus it’s going to have historic value. I think all in all, it’s really going to benefit the whole community.”
Many in town have fond memories of the Palace. During the 20 or so years the previous apartments were open, many people, including Scott Darling, lived in one of those apartments before they could afford to buy their own home.
“It’s really a home for a lot of people in Pender,” he said.
Because of the building’s historic status, renovations must return it to its original condition. The storefronts will soon feature large curved windows that recall the past.
The second and third floors were gutted, and, in the process, workers uncovered many treasures long hidden by false ceilings, vinyl floor coverings and walls built when hotel rooms first were remodeled into apartments.
Original wooden floors are mostly in good condition and will be refinished. Tin ceilings still in place in several rooms also will be refinished. Fireplaces in some of the old hotel rooms were discovered behind walls and will be restored as decorative pieces. Much of the antique wood trim has been saved and will be refinished and reinstalled.
The grand staircase, currently closed off on the first floor, will be reopened all the way to the third floor, once again revealing a skylight through which natural light floods the hallways.
All that work is likely to pay off quickly. Candice Darling said there are strong prospects to fill the new storefronts, and several people have shown interest in leasing an apartment.
The Darlings eagerly await the restoration’s completion, at which point the building will regain a prominent role in a town that currently has a lot of momentum with a new medical clinic, community center and county jail all under construction.
Those expansions mean new people in town, and they need somewhere to live, eat and shop. The Darlings hope the Palace brings those people to Main Street.
As in all small towns, Main Street will be happy to welcome the people back.
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Information from: Sioux City Journal, https://www.siouxcityjournal.com
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