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Presentation of the Governor's Award March 6. (left to right): PAC*SJ president Pat Curia, Knox Mellon, Mayor Ron Gonzales, Landmarks Comm'n Chair Mark Lazzarini, Councilmember Linda LeZotte and RDA Director Susan Shick. |
PAC*SJ, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and the City's Landmarks Commission received the Governor's Award for saving the historic but vacant Montgomery Hotel from the wrecking ball. The award was presented by state preservation officer Knox Mellon on March 6 at a city council meeting. That same night the council voted to begin making the shuttered hotel a city landmark the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.
The Montgomery, which dates back to 1911, was to have been demolished by the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) to make way for an expanded Fairmont Hotel. PAC*SJ filed suit and, after Mayor Gonzales was elected in 1999, a deal was reached to allow both expansion of the Fairmont and survival of the Montgomery by moving the historic hotel 186 feet south along First St. to its present location at a cost of nearly $13 million. The size of the structure moved was unprecedented anywhere in the world. Although PAC*SJ prefers to keep landmarks on their original sites, in this case it was better to move the Montgomery than to lose it altogether.
The Montgomery Hotel could be back in business as soon as the Spring of 2003, the Business Journal reports. The RDA plans an 83-room upscale hotel with a formal restaurant. Renovation costs will be about $10 million.
Learn more about moving the Montgomery Hotel
Above: The Montgomery Hotel shown in mid 20th Century postcard.