Albuquerque task force takes over Desert Sands Motel

desert-sands-motel-albuquerque

Albuquerque’s Safe City Task Force took over control of the Desert Sands Motel after the property experienced a third fire there since May.

The Route 66 motel faces an Oct. 1 deadline to make a good-faith effort to repair the property or the city will demolish it, reported KRQE-TV in Albuquerque.

The city acted less than a week after a third fire occurred at the closed motel. The first fire in May damaged at least a third of the property. A tenant who once lived there stands accused of arson.

Two other fires since then likely were caused by homeless squatters, despite the owner boarding up the structure and erecting a chain-link fence around it.

The station talked to city councilor Pat Davis:

“Early estimates say that it’ll cost more than a million dollars if the city wanted to just tear it down, so we’d much rather work with the owner to preserve what’s there and rebuild it and find a new purpose,” he said.

The City of Albuquerque Planning Department said in light of the third fire, the owner has until October 1 to repair the structure or demolish it.

If the property owner does not show a good faith effort by October 1, the city could either prepare paperwork to take the issue before the City Council for demolition, or prepare a criminal complaint to take the owner to Metropolitan Court.

I’m not optimistic repairs will happen, because Central Avenue (aka Route 66) is experiencing a glut of old motels, and rebuilding may not be economically feasible. Plus insurance companies are notoriously stingy in giving out large settlements such as this.

The Desert Sands was used in a scene in the Academy Award-winning film “No Country for Old Men.” More about the scene is found here. The motel, particularly Room 109, also reputedly was haunted.

According to online accounts, the Desert Sands was built in 1957. But in recent years, it was used more for long-term lodging than for overnight travelers.

(Image of the Desert Sands Motel in Albuquerque in 2013 by Thomas Hawk via Flickr)

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