30 August 2006

video: hotel bentley press conference

if you follow these blogs then you already knew back at the 16 august 2006 that bob dean was finally turning loose of the hotel bentley. downtowns long nightmare was over. in all fairness to mr. dean it probably was impossible to do business in alexandria, city government being what it is. applying for a permit to demolish the bentley was a bit much though. perhaps in mr. dean's mind that was merely his way of giving the city the finger. the bentley is historic. general eisenhower as well as general patton stayed there. many celebrities especially during world war 2 (entertaining troops at fort [camp] polk) have enjoyed the hotel bentley and its amenities, so you can see how this demolition talk didnt sit well at all with the purists and the romantics among us.

already, there is talk on cenla blogs about this "sale" being a political ploy, but we're not going to choose to see it that way. for now. lol. although we still think that the bentley should convert to apartments and condos ~ because we think that this is the only true way to make sure that the bentley stays open and maintained ~ but for the sake of the bentley we hope that we are wrong and the new owners make a killing renting hotel rooms.

before we read the press release we pondered on what, if anything, could this possibly mean being announced from the anniversary of the day of katrina. and when we read it we were glad to see that it wasnt just a coincidence as the significance of the date is mentioned. as you probably know "katrina" means cleansing or purifying therefore, let the cleansing and purifying begin with the bentley and radiate outward to downtown and beyond.
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1 comment:

  1. Blogger30 August, 2006 13:46

    I'm not sure people are saying the sale is a political ploy. The sale is fantastic news. They're saying that the press conference was probably a little bit much, considering the fact that the hotel is just under contract and that it won't close until AFTER the elections.

    Either way, I can't blame anyone for being excited about the Bentley being under contract. Like you said, we reported the story almost two weeks ago.

    Which made me question this line from Billy's article: "Silver and Johnson said they were the only ones in Alexandria who knew how close a deal was. Even Lawson and Smith, they said, didn't know until Monday."

    Not really, guys. You don't think Bob Dean's real estate agent called brokers in town to find out if they had anyone willing to present another offer?

    We should certainly give credit where credit is due, but let's be honest with one another: This is a real estate transaction between a buyer, a seller, and a bank.

    How about this? THANK YOU BOB DEAN! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

    We know you wanted 12.2 million, and we know you didn't get exactly what you wanted. But thank you for agreeing to sell, because Alexandrians do, in fact, have a special relationship with this historic hotel-- and it is the critical lynchpin in any discussion of downtown revitalization.

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