Another piece of old Key West closed its doors this week. And although the El Rancho Motel will reopen next year, it will have a new name and a new identity.
Located just two blocks from Duval Street in a bustling section of Truman Avenue, the El Rancho has long been a haven for people of all walks of life looking for an inexpensive, no-frills place to stay and experience the "real" Key West.
Its 1950s-era sign beckoned the budget-conscious as they made their way into the heart of Old Town -- some staying for just a night, others for as long as a month.
This unassuming, 50-room dwelling often drew the same return visitors year after year -- people who loved the motel's location and its kitsch.
By Tuesday, the motel will be reduced to a pile of rubble and a vacant parking lot. It is expected to re-emerge in 12 to 13 months as the Silver Palms Inn -- a new-and-improved motel with bigger rooms, more modern furnishings and a new pricepoint.
The only thing visitors likely will recognize when they return to the new hotel are owners Hansa and Vasant Soni, who bought the property in 1983.
"We just want to give a better product, and the market's getting more competitive in Key West -- a lot of newer buildings," said their son, Ashish Soni.
The Sonis plan to invest about $6 million in the project, he said. The new buildings will be concrete, with parking on the ground level and two floors of rooms with small balconies built over the parking level. A fitness room and breakfast area also will be added. The former pool, which the Sonis had installed in 1988, will be enlarged and converted to saltwater.
With the state of the economy, the timing of the investment is risky, but the Sonis said they believe the downturn will work in their favor because construction costs are significantly lower than when they started planning the project four years ago.
The city in 2006 gave Vasant and Hansa Soni approval to redevelop their property, then in 2007 gave them a one-year extension when they hadn't begun the work. They were denied a request for a second extension in April 2008 and had to go through the application process again.
Ashish Soni said the family plans to keep the rates affordable at a "mid-price" level, but declined to say exactly how much that price might be. In recent years, rooms at the El Rancho went for $119 and up in season and much less in the summer months.
Green initiatives
The Sonis have designed their new motel with many "green" features in mind, including a solar hot water system, Ashish Soni said. The new pool will use a saltwater chlorination system, which eliminates the need to purchase, transport, store and manually add chlorine as part of routine maintenance.
The Sonis also plan to use groundwater or collected rainwater for flushing toilets. The new laundry system will use ozone technology, reducing the need for hot water and many chemicals, such as bleach, and cutting the wash cycle time.
Ozone is a "very powerful oxidizing, cleaning and bleaching agent, with special application in laundry washing," according to an article in Fabricare magazine by Nathan Schiff, who is a regulatory and environmental consultant. It works best in cold water, as hot water breaks ozone down before it can perform as intended, he said. It attacks most organic soils and kills bacteria 3,200 times faster than chlorine bleach.
"Ozone is totally biodegradable, and when it completes its function, it reverts rapidly back to oxygen, leaving no chemical residues behind," Schiff said.
The new-and-improved Silver Palms also will use a key card system that turn out lights and air conditioning when guests leave their rooms.
Family affair
The last time the motel saw any major improvements was right after the Sonis bought the property in the 1980s. Hansa and Vasant had been looking for business opportunities in Florida and Arizona so they could move out of New Jersey because of their son's asthma.
Vasant Soni said after purchasing the property, it became clear that the windows, flooring, bathrooms, plumbing and furniture all needed to be replaced.
Hansa said she couldn't believe he picked the El Rancho to buy out of all the properties they had looked at. She characterized the place as "very run down."
"I said, 'We have seen so many other properties. You picked the worst one,' " she said, laughing at the memory.
Vasant Soni said he made the repairs little by little as he could afford them. He said he would hire a professional to do a small job, such as retiling one of the bathrooms, and watch carefully so he could learn to do it himself. He then did the rest of the work in the other rooms himself to save money.
"It took us almost five years," Hansa said of the renovations. "As we started fixing the place, we saw business going up. ... We said at least we were paying all our expenses, so we were happy."
Hansa said running the El Rancho has always been a family operation. The family even lived at the motel for 11 years. So watching its demolition over the past week has been difficult.
What was more difficult, she said, was having to let their staff of more than a dozen go, because the hotel will be offline for at least a year.
Guests likely will miss the place this season, too. In fact, a car pulled in this week hoping to rent a room even as machines were tearing the place down, Vasant said.
During last month's Poker Run, several guests recounted their years staying at the El Rancho, Vasant said. Decades ago, the motel had just one TV, and guests would gather together in the evening to watch it on the patio. One man from Ocala told Vasant that his father had been coming to the motel since 1955, and he liked carrying on the tradition.
"There's something about Key West that draws people back," Vasant said.
As for the Soni family, they plan to take a long-overdue family vacation themselves.
amswary@keysnews.com