Hotel project generates excitement in Falls City

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BY JOE DUGGAN / Lincoln Journal Star

Ask people in Falls City where to get a hotel room and they’ll likely ask if you know the way to Hiawatha, Kan.

Starting Tuesday, a Florida businessman will start transforming the 83-year-old Hotel Stephenson into a modern hotel with historic charm. By the time he’s done with the project, Mitch Glaeser hopes Falls City residents will tell visitors to stay at the landmark in their own downtown.

“I strongly feel once a diamond, always a diamond,” Glaeser said Monday afternoon, about an hour after closing the deal. “While it may not shine today like it did in the beginning, there is a way to bring that luster back.”

Glaeser bought the hotel from the relatives of Jim Stephenson, the hotel owner who passed away earlier this year. The sale was announced at a reception Monday attend by Gov. Dave Heineman and featuring music by the Peru State College jazz band.

Glaeser declined to disclose the purchase price or reveal what he thinks it will cost to rehabilitate the hotel. But he said he has no plans to flip the property — he fully intends to operate it as a business.

The 44-year-old Gainesville businessman’s ventures include real estate, phone book publishing and motivational speaking. While he has remodeled other commercial properties in the past, this is his first hotel.

The solid condition of the building is part of what made the project attractive to Glaeser. Much of the renovation will involve cosmetic work like new carpet, new fixtures and fresh paint.

Other work will be more challenging and costly.

The four-story hotel has 120 rooms, of which 30 are currently available for overnight stays. Some of the other rooms reflect a different era, when travelers were content to stay in a room with a bed and a sink, sharing a bathroom with other guests.

Glaeser said he will reconfigure the floor plan to add suites and so all rooms will have baths and showers. In the end, the hotel will have 72 rooms.

He will also replace the elevator, a relic that must be operated by the desk clerk. Otherwise, he wants to maintain the historical character of the hotel while providing modern amenities, such as internet access and flat panel TVs.

He will continue to employ the hotel’s staff of seven and for now, will leave the name unchanged. The street level businesses, which include a pharmacy, floral shop and barber, will continue their leases.

The sale did not include the Stephenson Motel on U.S. Highway 73 north of downtown. Falls City, population 4,671, also has one other independently owned motel.

While real estate developers don’t gamble on small town hotels every day, what makes this project even more unusual is that Glaeser had no previous connection to Falls City. He learned the hotel was for sale from Renee Bauer, the former director of Falls City’s economic development agency, who was visiting Gainesville when a relative told her about Glaeser.

Even more impressive than the hotel building was the people of Falls City, Glaeser said. While he understands the community faces challenges in attracting and keeping jobs, Glaeser said Falls City business leaders are working hard to meet those challenges.

Updating the hotel will significantly help economic development efforts, said Falls City Mayor Rod Vandeberg.

The city also sold the former library building near the hotel to Glaeser for $5,000. He plans to offer the building rent-free for five years to a future new business.

“We’re just thrilled about this project,” Vandeberg said Monday.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.