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New spa's going in next door to Ashland Springs Hotel ASHLAND -- A spa is being built next door to the former Mark Antony Hotel to allow hotel patrons and others to luxuriate in herbal baths right downtown. "It's an exciting thing," hotel developer Doug Neuman said Thursday. "The spa will be right next door at the Citizen Bank Building ... and will offer massage, steam baths, wraps and spa treatments." The Ashland Springs Spa will open either before or at the same time as the hotel, which will be known as the Ashland Springs Hotel, said spa owner Patricia Murphy. That's now expected to be in June or July. The hotel, built in 1925, was originally called the Lithia Springs Hotel, and was the tallest building between San Francisco and Portland. Shortly thereafter, the hotel's heyday was cut short when the railroad changed its passenger route from Ashland to Klamath Falls, and the flow of tourists who had been coming here dried up. Numerous hotel sales and bankruptcies followed. Neuman hopes his renovation -- which may cost $10 million -- will restore the original elegance of the hotel and change its luck. But so far, the renovation has been plagued with delays. When Neuman bought the building for $1.6 million in 1997, he estimated renovation would take a year. Neuman said he's hired a consultant to help make efficient use of time on the project. He said people who made reservations to stay at the hotel earlier than it will be open are being contacted. "We are nearing completion of electrical and plumbing," Neuman said. "That's the hard stuff. Then sheet rock is going up and we will put everything together." Neuman bought the Citizen Bank Building next door to the hotel about two years ago with something like the spa in mind, he said. Though the spa has separate ownership, it will have a cooperative relationship with the hotel, he said. The building houses several offices, including the Mail Tribune's Ashland bureau. The tenants will have to move when the spa goes in. And while most of the spa will be upstairs, above Lithia Shoes, a spa retail outlet will locate in the downstairs portion of the building, where a bead shop just moved out. Ashland Springs Spa will be Ashland's third. The Atrium and The Phoenix already are established. But Murphy said she doesn't think it will crate a spa glut. "I really truly believe this will establish Ashland as a spa destination town," Murphy said. "And we'll all be able to complement one another." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA