The auctioneer’s gavel slammed down on the podium. “Sold! Your number, sir? Thank you.” And, with that, the last item from the 60-year-old Nickel Range Hotel had been purchased by a buyer looking to own a piece of Sudbury’s history.
Her opening was meticulously described by the Sudbury Journal in 1915, which spoke of her “Italian Renaissance architecture”, "Caen stone cornices in the Doric treatment” and “dining room in the Ionic style” summing things up by stating that "the building is throughout a magnificent structure.” Unfortunately, that guest pedigree was not enough to continue enticing people to stay at a hotel that had seen better days.
At the beginning of February, the city’s Transportation Department Committee recommended a brief study in order to determine if the Nickel Range Hotel could be suitable for leasing if and when the city purchases it. However, Vic Kuula, the city’s property administrator who would be conducting the study, told the committee that from a cursory look at the structure, "with the state it's in now, I think it would have to close down.
The committee, he said, would be misleading people at this time about the future of the building by discussing any alternative uses. "We don't own it so stay out of it. We're asking for trouble," said Gordon. City solicitor Dennis Perlin told the committee, "It is extremely important to have some plan of action as to what will happen" to the building, adding he didn't believe the OMB would say it had to be used for parking purposes immediately upon takeover. But continued delay in implementing the land for parking would make it appear that the city acted in bad faith, he said.
With Mayor Joe Fabbro casting the deciding vote, city council at their meeting in the beginning of May 1975, decided that it would offer to sell their recently acquired Nickel Range Hotel property. The issue was placed before council by Alderman Doug Frith who was quoted at the time that a sale would "alleviate a hell of a lot of pressure on our current budget.
The city paid $540,000 for the Nickel Range property but DeStefano figured that the selling price, if the property was retained, could double in two years. Frith countered by saying that he knew of other property purchases in the downtown which he was sure were not doubling.
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