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Ashland hotel project nears finish September opening considered possible for former Mark Antony By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � Don�t mark the calendar just yet, but the grand opening of Ashland�s grandest hotel finally may be in sight. The Ashland Springs Hotel � still known to most locals as the Mark Antony � may open in late September, says developer Doug Neuman. His $10 million renovation of the historic hotel is dwindling down to the details. "We�re really, really pushing hard at this point, trying to wrap it up," Neuman says. He�s careful not to promise a date, however; the project has been plagued with delays. When Neuman bought the building for $1.6 million in 1998, he estimated renovation would take a year. More recent rumors have ranged from last spring to next month, but now Neuman�s feeling pretty good about fall. "There�s still a lot of things to do, but it�s way on the downhill side," he says. "The wallpaper�s up and the trim�s going in. "All the hard things are done." The scaffolding is starting to come down and the boards that for months have blocked sneak-peeks from the sidewalk have been removed. Of course, now there�s no sidewalk to stroll. The right lane of East Main Street in front of the hotel is blocked off while workers redo the pedestrian path. "It�ll start to really take shape here soon," Neuman says. In addition to renovating the hotel, Neuman has been talking with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and city officials about the possibility of partnering up on a parking garage behind the building. The city and OSF have plans in the works to build a three-tier parking structure next to the hotel�s parking area, at the site of the city�s public lot on Hargadine Street. The upper tier would be at street level, with two levels below taking advantage of the site�s steep slope. Neuman says he�s excited about the possibility of collaborating for a larger parking area � "especially if we did something nice on top." "Maybe some retail and a park area so it wouldn�t even look like a parking garage," he says. For now, though, he�s taking his projects one step at a time. Neuman is as anxious as anyone to complete construction at the hotel. "It�ll be neat again," he says. "It�ll bring a lot of vitality to the town." The nine-story hotel, originally called the Lithia Springs Hotel, was the tallest building between San Francisco and Portland when it was built in 1925. It�s heyday, however, was cut short by a series of financial reverses, a change in the railroad passenger route from Ashland to Klamath Falls and the Great Depression. The hotel�s history is a story of poor maintenance, numerous sales and bankruptcies. Neuman hopes he can change the hotel�s luck. He�s already bet $10 million on it. "It�s worth it," Neuman says. "When you go in, you�ll see." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA