Water still drips from remaining gaps in portions of the Palace Hotel roof, creating small shallow pools scattered across the landmark’s ground floor. It is dank inside the cavernous structure; a reminder of the toll decades of wet winter weather is taking on the Palace’s interior.
However, new efforts to remove debris, conduct salvage operations, and make basic structural repairs are revealing the Palace’s old self.
There are now dry sections despite recent rain because of the temporary repairs to a badly damaged roof that looms three stories above. The Palace desperately needs a permanent roof replacement to protect its 60,000 square feet of space below.
The palace’s interior is undoubtedly rough, rotted, and in need of gutting. Yet somehow, there are reminders of its long history: remnants of old tile floors on the ground floor, an underground storage area where bottles of liquor were once stored, and a side door where patrons of the old Black Bart Room used to slip in and out of the bar day and night.
Thanks to the return of electricity, the palace’s interior ground floor is lit up for the first time in years. Strings of outdoor lights allow carpenters to do their work while illuminating beautiful brick walls, curved archways and window casings, and nooks and crannies tucked here and there.
Over 15,000 pounds of debris scattered on the ground floor have been removed, allowing a fresh look at how structural features might appear if the Palace is renovated.
Tom Carter, the new owner/contractor, says efforts to structurally shore up the oldest and most weakened section of the Palace are the focus of Carter, a crew of carpenters, and the Ukiah architect who assists them.
“We are almost there,” said Carter during last week’s tour.
Carter’s crew is building a four-story interior support tower inside the oldest section. It reached the roof this week, providing bracing for an extended brick exterior wall along Smith Street and interior support for a seriously damaged roof portion until permanent repairs can be made.
“With the tower nearly complete, it ends the threat of collapse of the most historic section of the Palace,” said Carter.
For now, the priority is to stabilize the sagging section of the Palace, which combines three structures. The original Palace was erected in 1891 at the corner of State and Smith streets. Two other additions supported by concrete pilings were constructed independently of each other during the 1920s. One faces west along School Street, and the other fronts State Street about a half-block north of the Mendocino County Courthouse.
Carter is a veteran North Coast contractor who has done extensive work on historic structures, including the Tallman House and Blue Wing Saloon in neighboring Lake County, the old brick Loren Train Station in Berkeley, and Victorian homes around the Bay Area.
Carter’s crew includes his contractor son, Chae Carter. The father-son team started work after the senior Carter secured title to the Palace in mid-October from former owner Jitu Ishwar, a Ukiah Valley motel operator.
At first, city building officials resisted allowing Carter and his crew to begin repairs on a structure they inspected and found unsafe. They and city staff convinced the City Council in November 2023 that the Palace was an “imminent” threat to public safety and ordered it red-tagged.
The city finally relented and allowed Carter and his crew to begin emergency repairs after architect Richard Ruff stepped in and provided plans and documentation to win approval. The city-owned utility also agreed to restore power to the building so work could proceed without generators inside.
Ruff is intimately aware of the Palace’s current state. He designed and built his own unique downtown office on a narrow lot that butts up against the Palace’s southern wall. Ruff regularly checks on the work in progress at the Palace and reviews results with Carter.
Carter said that while the immediate focus is on the support tower to shore up the exterior brick wall along Smith Street, progress has been made.
“We have almost cleaned the first floor of all the debris left behind after years of neglect,” said Carter.
The work lights strung throughout the hotel’s ground level illuminate that progress.
The Palace’s old lobby fireplace still stands, along with plaster columns that line a nearby stairway leading up to the second floor. Carter said he plans to strip the brick off the fireplace and return it to the original plaster appearance.
“I want the lobby to reflect how things were when the hotel flourished,” said Carter.
A staging area for workers and equipment has been set up in the old ground-floor Palace garage facing School Street. Nearby is an area for stacks of old interior redwood remnants and other original construction materials that Carter plans to recycle.
In an adjacent area, Carter has set up a table to review myriads of renovation and engineering plans prepared for the Palace over the years.
“They may be out of date, but they help us understand every inch of this place,” said Carter.
Carter is determined to preserve significant portions of the original Palace.
Carter’s efforts ran counter to a clamor a year ago to demolish the building by developers, civic leaders, and city staff frustrated after three decades of the building’s sharp decline.
At the peak of a community cry last summer to tear down the Palace, Carter joined local preservation advocates in unsuccessfully lobbying against a City Council decision to issue a demolition permit to then-owner Ishwar. A development deal Ishwar had at the time collapsed, and the permit was never activated.
“It was very disappointing when the city chose to issue a demolition permit, but by chance, we prevailed. The Palace is still standing,” said Carter.
Carter began negotiating with Ishwar and his attorney, Steve Johnson, for the purchase of the Palace after the deal with a local investment group led by restaurant owner Matt Talbert and the Guidiville Rancheria failed.
Carter, Ishwar, and Johnson reached an agreement in October, allowing the Lake County contractor to secure title to the Palace. This unexpected turn of events was celebrated by preservation advocates. Carter has three years to find investors to do a full-scale restoration and pay off a note Ishwar holds on to the Palace.
Carter is confident he can make the Palace structurally safe and lure investors into putting up the millions of dollars needed to transform the landmark. A small hotel, bar and restaurant, retail shopping complex, and event center have long been imagined.
Carter’s excitement about the possibilities picks up where others left off.
“We now know where the famous mural for the old Black Bart Room is. We are hoping it can be returned to the hotel someday,” said Carter.
A year ago, such optimism was sparse.
The mantra among city officials, civic leaders, and critics was “tear it down.”
The beloved local landmark seemed nearing its end. Under the Sandelin family, it had been the center of the town’s social life for decades.
The hotel began to slide into disrepair as the Highway 101 freeway bypassed downtown and typical overnight stops for travelers faded.
The Palace enjoyed a brief, snazzy revival in the 1970s when Pat Kuleto, a restaurant designer who later achieved fame in San Francisco, arrived in Ukiah and did a cosmetic renovation. The Palace became a social hit for a new generation, but only a decade later, the hotel/restaurant operation faltered again.
The Palace began to be stripped of important artifacts, including the acclaimed mural hanging behind the bar in the Black Bart Room. It is an ode to the poet-bandit Black Bart, a San Franciscan who robbed stagecoaches and became a 19th-century legend across Northern California.
In 1990, a Marin County real estate group led by Eladia Laines bought the Palace at a tax lien sale for a paltry $115,000. Laines made efforts to clean up the Palace, but they were erratic and never led to a reopening.
As time passed, advocates of demolition grew in number. City officials struggled for three decades to find a resolution, but with the demise of local redevelopment agencies, their options narrowed.
Eventually, the city forced the Palace into court receivership, but the Santa Monica attorney in charge could not find outside developers interested in preserving the building.
Ishwar, a Ukiah motel operator and former president of the local Chamber of Commerce, became directly involved after he loaned significant money to the court receivership for feasibility studies. Ishwar took the title in 2019 after buying the Palace out of receivership.
Under Ishwar’s ownership, however, the Palace deteriorated further. Ishwar did not spend any money to halt the building’s decline into a community eyesore in the heart of downtown. He chose instead to negotiate with a string of potential buyers in hopes of being made whole financially.
In November 2023, the Ukiah City Council, with fanfare, declared the Palace an “imminent risk” to public safety. City building officials and fire captains cited fears of collapse and released staff photos to dramatize the Palace’s decrepit interior.
The city’s move coincided with a deal Ishwar had struck with the Guidiville group, although city staff was adamant there was no connection between the developer’s demolition plans and the council’s declaration of a public safety issue.
Guidiville’s financing hinged on a state grant application whose details were kept secret initially by restaurant owner Talbert and Guidiville consultant Michael Derry. However, when specifics became public, the plans called for demolishing the town’s most significant historical landmark at taxpayer expense. Local preservation advocates launched a challenge, eventually drawing Carter into the circle.
The Guidiville plans began to falter a year ago after a state agency overseeing proposed contamination studies ruled out the need for demolition to investigate the Palace site.
Last June, it was disclosed that the Guidiville group’s stalled scheme to secure millions of dollars in public funds to demolish the Palace had engulfed the leadership of the state Department of Toxic Substance Control in internal political strife.
Internal documents obtained under the California Public Records Act showed the controversial Guidiville plan had pitted agency staff attorneys and lower-level managers concerned about the political blowback from tribal representatives against a top division chief who, after review, worried the multi-million award might not “even be legal.”
Diane Barclay, the DTSC’s Northern California Division Chief, wrote in a May 8, 2024, memo to the department’s legal counsel that she feared the Guidiville Rancheria might have been used as a “mule” by investors seeking taxpayer funding of a landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The state agency denied the original $5.3 million grant application and instead offered the Ukiah Valley tribe $200,000 for contamination studies if needed. According to state representatives, Guidiville never accepted the limited grant award.
Since his takeover, Carter and his crew have been working to make his dream of a restored Palace a reality.
The specially designed support tower and further roof repairs are at the top of a lengthy list of items to help potential investors see the Palace’s possibilities.
“It may take us a couple of years to get where we want to be,” admitted Carter. The city permit for the emergency repairs is only the first in a series of what will be needed.
The 73-year-old Carter sees the Palace as his legacy project. Carter said he is prepared to weather what is expected to be a long and tedious process.
“I know what can be done, and I am prepared to put everything I have into this.”
Carter said he is actively exploring options with outside investors, including hotel operators.
“We are going to get this building stabilized and ready for investors. They are out there, and we will land one of them,” said Carter.
My father tended bar in the Black Bart Room back in the 1950’s. I’m happy to hear work is being done to restore the Palace.
Thank you Tom Carter!! Your dedication and vision is a precious gift to our community.
Thank you f for holding firm to your vision. Ukiah might actually have a chance of creating some downtown buzz and charm when this is done.
Let us know when he gets serious investors.
Hallelujah! Thank you to Tom Carter and crew for doing the long hard work to restore the Palace Hotel!
I look forward to seeing the progress!
Thx
Ed Rooney is putting up the majority of the money for the renovation.
Count me in!
My ex father in law Walter Johnson bought the Black Bart Mural and the bar,the rolet table and many extra things from the Palace Hotel back in the 80’s,.I was married to his Son at the time he bought the stuff at a auction,very cool things,it would be nice to see the things back in the hotel.
I know Tom Carter would love to incorporate earlier Palace Hotel elements into its next incarnation. He set up an email address to hear from folks interested to offer support or to make a connection. Drop him a line at thepalacehotel2024@gmail.com
This is great news ! It sounds like the Palace is in the capable hands of people who
are doing it for all the right reasons. The past few years of negotiations have been
horifying to watch. Thank you Tom Carter for stepping up. You did an amazing job
on the Blue Wing and the Tallman – exactly the kind of project of integrity that
Ukiah needs so badly. It’s going to be a long haul but it sounds like you and your
team are up to the job.
Well it would be nice if it can be done. I’ve lived here for 81 years and remember how nice the hotel, bar and restaurant was in the 1950s and 1960s. I’d love to see it back to something we can all be proud of and enjoy.