Historic hotel to open Nov. 1

Columbia Gorge News

HOOD RIVER — The opening of the Lighwell Hotel in downtown Hood River has been a long time coming.

But the scaffolding is finally coming down for a community open house on Oct. 17 from 5-7 p.m. The hotel is already accepting bookings beginning Nov. 1.

Lach Litwer and Cal Blake, two of Lightwell’s five founding partners, initially looked at the historic Waucoma Hotel — where the Lightwell is now located — as a potential structure for workforce housing, but for various reasons, the site was unsuitable. As it stood, the other option for the building was demolition.

“This is a building we have to save,” said Litwer. “If we don’t do something, it’s going to get destroyed. It’s going to either fall down around its own ears, or it’s going to get demolished.”

He reached out to Carrington “Ceb” Barrs, (featured in the Feb. 26 issue of Columbia Gorge News), a community developer who’s worked on similar projects. They decided the building needed to become a hotel again “because of the historic layout, but also because of the revenue intensity needed to support the restoration,” said Litwer.

Barrs brought in his regular partner, Gabe Genauer, and with VIP Hospitality, the five began the long process of renovating and restoring the historic building.

This was no easy (or cheap) task. “We have to balance the fact that we are a Historic Register building, that we are restoring with our energy efficiency goals, and sometimes those things exist in tension,” said Litwer.

Using windows as an example, he said the historical approach would be single pane glass and wooden frames, but that is energy inefficient. In the end, they replaced almost all with double pane windows. This also benefited the sustainability of the HVAC system, which is 30% more efficient than standard required level.

“Sustainability was really the center of our approach,” said Litwer. “The most sustainable thing you can do in building is reuse something that already exists, in terms of the avoided emissions, in terms of the avoided materials creation, use and energy.”

The first element they focused on reusing was the lightwell central to the building. It had been closed for many years, but by opening it again, they were able to bring natural light and air circulation to the building. In addition, they installed an energy efficient water heating system, “as much solar as we could fit,” and waste reduction options like a water bottle station in the lobby and metal cups in the rooms.

“We’re also looking at understanding our consumption and we’ll be looking to purchase renewable energy credits for the balance of what we need,” said Litwer.

They reused as much as they could, repurposing boulders from the basement excavation into furniture, reusing the original hotel’s floorboards in the restaurant, and the original building trim to frame historical photos that will showcase the history of the area, a collaboration with the The History Museum of Hood River County to “tie people’s … contemporaneous experiences, to the that of our history,” said Litwer.

There are more local Easter eggs throughout the public areas of the building, so people should keep their eyes peeled for nods to the original River City Saloon and other sites.

Litwer also emphasized the importance of creating a space for visitors and locals.

“We also wanted to make sure it was a third place for the community … We want to have a place where folks [who live here] feel welcome,” he said. It’s an ethos he picked up from his father-in-law’s restaurant in Newport, where tourists could come and get the experience they were looking for without excluding locals.

“We want [locals] to think of this as our living room and come in in the off-season and have a bowl of soup and a drink and maybe get a massage or a spa treatment, and feel like it’s their place,” said Litwer. “Striking that balance was important because of that heritage that we have in my family, but I think it really resonated for the whole development team.”

To this end, they are looking at hosting music nights with the baby grand piano in the foyer (another significant historic nod), and the public areas — including the coffee shop, restaurant and bars — will be welcoming to locals and visitors alike.

To make reservations, book spa treatments, and find out more about the history of the building, visit lightwellhotel.com.