A northern Arizona hotelier, who restored La Posada in Winslow, has purchased a century-old railroad hotel in Las Vegas, N.M.
Allan Affeldt said he bought the 25,000-square-foot La Castaneda earlier this month for $400,000.
The mission revival hotel, completed in 1898, was one of the first of the Harvey Houses, Fred Harvey’s chain of hotels and restaurants that furthered tourism development in the Southwest.
In 1899, La Castaneda hosted the first reunion of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders from the Spanish-American War.
“The town has been waiting for this for decades,” Affeldt said. “After World War II, Fred Harvey closed most of their buildings and they were sold off or torn down.”
Las Vegas leaders have long feared La Castaneda would be torn down but Affeldt stepped in just as he did at La Posada, a 1930 Harvey House that had an uncertain future two decades ago.
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With his wife, artist Tina Mion, Affeldt bought La Posada in 1997 and together they transformed it into a tourism and cultural attraction with an acclaimed fine-dining restaurant and a wealth of historical artifacts.
The hotel has been closed since 1948 but a bar has operated out of the building on Railroad Avenue, near a restored depot.
Las Vegas, with about 14,000 residents, has more than 900 historic buildings.
La Castaneda, designed by Frederick Roehrig, had about 45 rooms, small by today’s standards, so they will be combined into about 25 suites.
Affeldt figures it will cost about $3 million to restore the property, which is more than the cost of building a new hotel of a similar size.
La Posada, a much larger hotel, cost well over $12 million to renovate, he said. The latest renovation project is turning the former Winslow train depot, next to La Posada, into an art gallery.
One advantage of owning the two hotels is that Affeldt can step out of La Posada where he lives and ride the Amtrak about 400 miles to La Castaneda.