What Does Jim Dellies Know that we do not?

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/dellies.pdf

click here

displays a copy of the latest warranty deed for
the Travelur's Motel on US2 just west of the
City of Iron River.

The motel has 18 shabby units (I last stayed there
as a visitor to Iron County in December of 2000)
and an old trailer/family unit in the back along
with a regular owner/manager home at the front of
the motel.

The place has been unused for several years. All
the through-the-wall air conditioners are over
sized which leaves the rooms cold but muggy in
the summer. The bathrooms are dated to the 1950's
and the tile work and plumbing fixtures are in
poor condition throughout. The beds vary from
unit to unit, with room #1 having the worse of
everything, as though the worse was gathered into
one place an let only as a last resort when the
place was full. Maintenance was the lowest
priority with the Panero couple who last owned
and opwerated the place.

After their deaths, the "gallery" that had at one
time in the distant past been the original Alice's
Restaurant was torn down as it had rotted to such
an extent from the leaking roof that it was not
repairable.

It is clear that Dellies paid only $60,000 for the
motel and the property. In better economic times
that would have been a bargain if the new owner
could make repairs and upgrades over a longer
time period while some reasonable number of
rooms could be let to tourists. The outdoor in the
ground pool has not been used in some years, thus
its condition is unknown.

But today the tourism that could support the motel
is almost non-existent. One has only to routinely
pay attention to the number of vehicles at the
AmericInn in town to discover that we have very
few guests staying in Iron River. Most of the
year the Ice Lake Motel has many vacancies.

And look at the number of shuttered motels in
Iron County. All of this points to a dismal
future for tourism in Iron County. But Mr.
Dellies bought the motel anyway.

So what does Jim Dellies know that we do not?
And is that knowledge "insider", being
unavailable to the general public? I cannot
imagine that Mr. Stupak's congressional aid
is a fool, so he must have some sort of an angle
for buying the place, some reason that he believes
the investment will make him a profit where the
opposite is conventional wisdom.

I don't begrudge anyone being clever enough to
legitimately see an opportunity that others
miss, and I sincerely hope that's what's
happening.

Bill Vajk