Regis Hotel tenants making last stand for their home's preservation

SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News) — William Bogel watched his fiancee die and life begin to slip away.

Richard Caldwell found himself dealing with a midlife crisis.

When they hit rock bottom, the Regis Hotel was their last hope.

Now the men, two of about two dozen still living in the rundown State Street motel, are making a last stand for the place they call home.

"People don't know the thousands of individuals who have lived here and have created a community," said Tim Funk of the Crossroads Urban Center. "The city is killing that community."

The Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency has served eviction notices to the remaining tenants at 253 S. State, as officials move forward with plans to demolish and renovate a pair of beleaguered hotels there.

While RDA leaders have offered space to tenants at the newly remodeled Rio Grande Hotel on Broadway, the resistance from some has been fierce.

"I am surprised," said Alisia Wixom, the project manager at the Rio Grande. "I think there have been a lot of false rumors. Everyone who has come here has been surprised."

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