Come for the
Amenities
Stay for the
Culture In Perry, and throughout Iowa, RIP stands for Renaissance In Progress. by DAN WEEKS
Perry has been on a wild ride since the mid-1990s. That’s when California philanthropist Roberta Green Ahmanson invested some $20 million in her hometown, located 40 miles northwest of Des Moines. Most of the money went to transforming historic Hotel Pattee into a destination luxury hotel. The massive, multiyear effort won raves from the likes of The New York Times. It also spun off other projects — artful public spaces, building restorations, and an arts revival that attracted creative people and businesses to Perry and energized those already there.
Ups and downs The hard part, it turned out, was keeping the hotel open. Headlines tell the story: 1999: Former Resident Gives Iowa Town a Swank Hotel 2006: The Hotel Pattee Abruptly Closes; Historic Luxury Lodge Sparked a Cultural Renaissance in Perry, Iowa 2008: The Historic Hotel Pattee of Perry, Iowa, Will Reopen Aug 2013: Historic Hotel in Perry, Iowa, Abruptly Closes Sept 2013: St. Louis Couple to Buy Hotel Pattee
By now, there’s understandably a bit of news fatigue: The latest purchase ranked but a single paragraph on one day in The Des Moines Register. On September 21, 2013, the paper offered “a rose” to the new owners for recognizing the hotel’s potential. (No doubt there will be more coverage later.)
A local effort The real news, however, isn’t just another reopening. It is that Perry’s grand hotel and the cultural renaissance it inspired has shifted — surely, though not always smoothly — from a philanthropic effort dependent on a single person’s generosity to a local project sustained by broad community participation. Consider: Last time the Hotel Pattee closed, it was for about two years. This time, it may be shuttered for as little as two months. Last time, the new owner was an out-of-state corporation. This time, it’s Jay and Denise Hartz and family, who plan to relocate to Perry. Last time, the money for the purchase came mostly from outsiders. This time, 38 of the 43 investors partnering with the Hartzes are Perry residents. Collectively, they’ve put up a total of $500,000 to help the Hartzes reopen the hotel.
November/December 2013 | THE IOWAN
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