What is the story on this place? I drive by it every day and there are so many interesting characters milling around outside. How are there not multiple city code issues etc with this place? Really one of the only crummy places in the area, would love to see that spot revitalized.

Showtime said:

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What is the story on this place? I drive by it every day and there are so many interesting characters milling around outside. How are there not multiple city code issues etc with this place? Really one of the only crummy places in the area, would love to see that spot revitalized.

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Yeah I can't imagine they make enough renting out those rooms to justify holding onto it. It seems like now would be a great time to sell.

The property tax records are fascinating to look at. The improvements value has dropped all the way down to like $40k with land value increasing. You can tell that the owner is protesting each year.

It's now a good location. I don't know why the owner doesn't sell. It's now basically a homeless hangout.

CorsicanaBear said:

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It's the floor show when you eat on the patio at Milo's All Day.

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Yeah I don't mind being stopped at that light.

Last time in town we got stopped at that light and rolled down the windows so we could hear the music and enjoy the dance show.

Even with occasional entertainment that whole building needs to go away.

CTbruin said:

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It's now a good location. I don't know why the owner doesn't sell. It's now basically a homeless hangout.

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Yep..and it's been that way for decades. I don't know how payment for the rooms is negotiated...weekly, monthly, etc...Perhaps those residents who receive some sort of monthly check have worked a deal with the management for the rent? I've no clue, but have wondered about that for a long time..Guess if they didn't have those rooms, they'd probably be on the street. Sad old situation.

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Sad old situation.

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That is correct.

Oak Lodge Motor Inn? What is their Michelin rating? Do they offer curbside valet service?

ABC BEAR said:

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Oak Lodge Motor Inn? What is their Michelin rating? Do they offer curbside valet service?

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For grocery carts

Pretty sure First Presbyterian Church has tried to buy it multiple times over the years.

CTbruin said:

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ABC BEAR said:

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Oak Lodge Motor Inn? What is their Michelin rating? Do they offer curbside valet service?

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For grocery carts

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Any valet service they offer would probably require a shot.

I just will always remember them finding the body of the son of a notable Waco florist in truck of his car there. Don't think it was ever solved. Man, that bedbug metropolis gives me the creeps. What an eyesore!

I have no inside information, nor have I examined the ownership history for this property, but oftentimes an owner who is approaching his 'Promotion to Glory' (Salvation Army terminology) and who has a low tax basis in one or more other appreciated assets is just looking to pass these things on to his/her heirs and allow them to cash in using the stepped-up basis allowed under the current tax laws.

I emphasize 'current' because the stepped up basis is in the crosshairs for elimination under current administration's tax proposals.

My thought is that in spite of the bluster involved, there are too many moneyed people of all political stripes to allow that to happen, but who knows?

The building appears to be in good shape structurally. It would seem someone buying it and refurbishing it back to its glory as a Mad Men era motor inn could make quite a bit of money in current Waco.

That said I thought someone restoring the Elite back to its 1940s look with neon signage and lighting all over the outside etc. would have been cool. But then the Hai es bought it and completely turned it into something else.

Old300Bear said:

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Pretty sure First Presbyterian Church has tried to buy it multiple times over the years.

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You are correct. We did some work on the church about 10 years ago (stained glass repairs and coverings) and they confirmed that to us Our workers felt very uncomfortable with eyes on them all day. The church also said that the hotel was a place for people released from the McLennan county jail. That seems to still be the case today. So I guess the county pays the rent.

PartyBear said:

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The building appears to be in good shape structurally. It would seem someone buying it and refurbishing it back to its glory as a Mad Men era motor inn could make quite a bit of money in current Waco.

That said I thought someone restoring the Elite back to its 1940s look with neon signage and lighting all over the outside etc. would have been cool. But then the Hai es bought it and completely turned it into something else.

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"The building appears to be in good shape structurally."

Here ya go:
https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=optometrists&find_loc=Waco%2C+TX

I guess you dont actually look at the building. You look at windows or if the doors on the rooms look nice or if there is junk in front of the rooms. I'm no expert but I do not believe the lot needs to be cleared if someone wanted to have what I described above.

PartyBear said:

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The building appears to be in good shape structurally. It would seem someone buying it and refurbishing it back to its glory as a Mad Men era motor inn could make quite a bit of money in current Waco.

That said I thought someone restoring the Elite back to its 1940s look with neon signage and lighting all over the outside etc. would have been cool. But then the Hai es bought it and completely turned it into something else.

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You talk out of your ass a LOT!

jbbear said:

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CTbruin said:

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ABC BEAR said:

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Oak Lodge Motor Inn? What is their Michelin rating? Do they offer curbside valet service?

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For grocery carts

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Any valet service they offer would probably require a shot.

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Ummm, yeah. May be entering my soul into the transfer portal.

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Ummm, yeah. May be entering my soul into the transfer portal.

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Based solely on the last name of the owner on the tax rolls, I'd say you're looking at reincarnation for sure.

BellCountyBear said:

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PartyBear said:

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The building appears to be in good shape structurally. It would seem someone buying it and refurbishing it back to its glory as a Mad Men era motor inn could make quite a bit of money in current Waco.

That said I thought someone restoring the Elite back to its 1940s look with neon signage and lighting all over the outside etc. would have been cool. But then the Hai es bought it and completely turned it into something else.

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You talk out of your ass a LOT!

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Your projections are quite entertaining. Thank you.

I have heard the owner constantly moves the price up. I know someone that owns a shop on Austin Avenue right across the street. She said the owner is looking for $1.5mm to sell out. No one has been able to make the math work on the price asked. Maybe if gentrification continues to move that way someone will take the plunge and buy the property.

It's holding on since the ASTRO, the Thunderbird and the Mardi Gras are now gone. Still not as nice as the Viking or Delta Inn...

PTGHUNTER said:

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Last time in town we got stopped at that light and rolled down the windows so we could hear the music and enjoy the dance show.

Even with occasional entertainment that whole building needs to go away.

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Where you in a Jeep Wrangler?

Not a Jeep Wrangler

zebra90 said:

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She said the owner is looking for $1.5mm to sell out. No one has been able to make the math work on the price asked.

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It's a crazy market right now. There's a lot of money, much of it out-of-state or out-of-US, chasing deals, many of which are marginal at best.

Super low interest rates, both for borrowers and for moneyed persons who used to be able to live comfortably off the interest on rock solid safe investments, drive much of this.

Ask folks in Austin about what the Californians with their barrels full of $$ have done to home prices there. Folks from all over are bullish on Texas real estate, maybe because they view it as underpriced, or maybe because they're not happy with alternative investments in the current climate.

I do hope our local taxing authorities don't get drunk on the windfall they get from rapidly-increasing property values. If there ever is a serious correction, I doubt they'll adjust to it very well.

I'm pretty sure everyone who watches Fixer Upper sees the prices in Waco specifically and think holy crap, we can have a huge ranch for the price of tiny house in the Bay Area or in the southern ca. area. Waco has been hot for a few years now except during the Covid crisis perhaps.

Residential real estate went up in 2020. And continues to rise. We have folks moving in from all over the country. Texas is hot. And Central Texas is even hotter.

zebra90 said:

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I have heard the owner constantly moves the price up. I know someone that owns a shop on Austin Avenue right across the street. She said the owner is looking for $1.5mm to sell out. No one has been able to make the math work on the price asked. Maybe if gentrification continues to move that way someone will take the plunge and buy the property.

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I'm quite certain you'd get at least $500k of that back in TIF funding for fixing that disaster, maybe more

With the previously rumored and publicly unannounced closing of the Oak Lodge Motel, based on a desire "to make our city better,"

https://www.actlocallywaco.org/2021/06/10/the-invisible-homeless-in-waco-are-losing-again/?fbclid=IwAR1lSczpDXPr4T7Qwlc7t172IOSqGHxUvmGQZ-x21IBUenx6YV0bi4c5xuY

If this place ever does come down, Waco's 'invisible people' could become Dallas 'invisible people' in an afternoon. Think: Charted Buses.

ABC BEAR said:

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If this place ever does come down, Waco's 'invisible people' could become Dallas 'invisible people' in an afternoon. Think: Charted Buses.

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I think they would like the more temperate climate and bountiful government assistance of California.

ABC BEAR said:

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If this place ever does come down, Waco's 'invisible people' could become Dallas 'invisible people' in an afternoon. Think: Charted Buses.

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I think that's a trick play that the People's Republic of Austin runs ever now and then.