The redeveloped Imperial Inn motel in Albuquerque showed off its restored neon sign shortly before it reopened to overnight travelers on Wednesday.
Here’s an image from the Route 66 motel’s Instagram account of the sign, complete with its chasing lights:
Palindrome Communities, which also restored El Vado Motel and Monterey Motel in Albuquerque, restored the property for $7 million, reported the Albuquerque Journal.
It partnered with the city on the multimillion-dollar development at 701 Central NE, which will include an area called the “Imperial Dive” that will feature local retail and food spaces and a cocktail lounge.
Across from the dive inside the main office is a coffee shop known as “MOJO Rising.” […]
The city of Albuquerque’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency contributed $700,000 to the project’s development, which Glass said was “not an insignificant amount.”
Palindrome preserved and restored the original pool from the 1960s and a tribute to the building’s butterfly roof, which was a motif of the original architecture firm, Palmer and Krisel.
There are 37 motel rooms, each one with artwork of various Route 66 places like the Cactus Inn Motel in McLean, Texas.
According to RoadsideArchitecture.com, the Imperial Inn opened in the early 1960s as the Imperial 400 Motel, part of a chain that originated in Los Angeles.
The chain essentially ceased to exist after another company bought it out in 1987.
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