motels

The scene: The 1950s were a huge decade of change for South Lake Tahoe, with the proliferation of casinos on the Nevada side and the creation of the one-chair Heavenly ski resort on the California side. But the main attraction, then as now, was the lake itself, its shore dotted with mom-and-pop motels, vacation cottages and souvenir shops. When the original Red Hut opened here in 1959, South Lake Tahoe was becoming popular but the tourism infrastructure was nascent.

An overflowing audience of South Lake Tahoe residents, home owners, vacation home owners, real estate agents, property managers, vacation rental companies, locals and city officials were on hand Tuesday night at the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) community workshop held in City Council chambers at the airport.

City Manager Nancy Kerry ran the meeting, giving everyone a chance to speak their opinion after a short presentation.

Motels and hotels being used for long term occupancy is a problem across the country and South Lake Tahoe is no different.

Of the 120 motels and hotels in the city limits, 58 of them are being used for long term occupancy. 1,300 rooms are now rented for long periods of time. These units were not built for people to live in long term as there is no refrigeration or cooking facilities, and many times there are families living in a room meant for just two people for a night or two.

South Lake Tahoe may soon be one less aging motel along the main stretch in town. On Tuesday, the Placer County supervisors gave staff the go ahead to purchase the A & A Lake Tahoe Inn for $1.425 million. The county wants to have the motel's 34 tourist accommodation units (TAUs) so they can add hotel rooms at the north end of Lake Tahoe.

The south shore motel rests in a stream sensitive zone. If the purchase goes through, Placer County would give the motel to the California Conservancy for demolition and restoration while keeping the TAUs.

Information was circulating that Meyers was going to be taken over by large parking garages and other unwanted development including a Athlete's Village or Basecamp type feature, much of what was created by a now buried Catalyst Plan. "The Catalyst Project is dead," El Dorado County Supervisor Norma Santiago told the packed house at the California Conservation Corp (CCC) building in Meyers on Wednesday night.

Now is a great time to invest in Lake Tahoe, whether it's a vacation rental, long term rental, multi-units/apartments or retail buildings. With the continued low interest rates and property prices still considered low, now is the time to pull the trigger before it's too late. I advise my clients that waiting will not help their situation. The biggest challenge is the lack of homes for sale. The key to to watch for new listings as they get posted to the MLS system.

Nineteen youth hockey teams from around California will descend on South Lake Tahoe for the 7th annual Lake Tahoe Invitational Hockey Tournament, a four-day event that begins Friday at the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena. Motels will fill up as at least a thousand parents, team supporters and children are expected for this tournament, which is estimated to bring in around $200,000 in revenues to the community, organizers say.

They found scores of examples, such as the signs for the Cal Neva Lodge and Harvey's Resort Hotel at Lake Tahoe, and the Frontier and Comstock motels in Carson City, whose signs sported not just l...