They're just not used to being shut out of downtown deals. While most historic buildings survive on their own pretensions of historical importance, the Metropole turns 100 without fanfare. Upstairs in the old hotel, thick sheets of paint hang from 13-foot cove ceilings. Despite abundant evidence of water damage in the stores below, the plaster upstairs is remarkably intact. Most of the hotel is divided into small rooms with closets and sinks.
Filthy skylights filter a dim light into the stairwells and halls.
I think there will be some opening up of some interior stuff to make it a valuable product. Botto expects Rose Ventures to renovate and retrofit the whole building, keeping the ground floor as commercial retail and converting the top to office space. In the two years and four months since the last tenants were evicted, an empty building's entropy has taken hold, speeding up the march of time. In one room on the southeast corner of the building, a tiled fireplace graces the corner. On the wall hangs a calendar with days crossed out until Nov. 30, 1994.