When looking online for lodging options in Greeley, one might happen upon listings for the Rainbow Motel.
Yes, that Rainbow Motel. The one on North Eighth Avenue, where the neon sign was dark, the landscape was overgrown and the clientele was sketchy.
Note the past tense.
The 16-room Rainbow Motel at 105 N. Eighth Ave. — for decades regarded as a haven for drug dealers, wanted felons and alleged prostitution, according to Greeley police — is being transformed room by room into a hip boutique motel with upscale furnishings and a youthful vibe.
And thanks to new owners Nancy Clark and her daughter-in-law Holly Clark, both of Denver, the neon rainbow sign is again aglow in the evening sky.
But to make the business work right from the start they needed the right general managers and Nancy knew just who to ask. Riley and Duston Baker — she’s 21, he’s 26 — moved to Denver from west Texas for job opportunities and to be near the mountains.
With 1-year-old Oliver in tow, they moved into the upstairs apartment at the Rainbow Motel and set about making changes big and small. First they worked to make their own quarters livable.
Then, on Jan. 1, Duston began going door to door asking “with respect” the current residents to leave. “They are nice people, they’ve just made different life decisions.”
The eviction process was made easier thanks in part to the list of stringent policies now in effect.
For example, no longer are motel guests allowed to pay for a room with cash and no ID. Instead, all guests over 18 — not just the person paying for the room — must provide legal ID and the room needs to be paid with a bank-issued credit card. In addition, pets are not welcome and there is no smoking of any kind allowed within 50 feet of the property.
With previous clientele gone, the Bakers began the arduous process of cleaning, remodeling and furnishing the rooms. In doing so, Riley said they ran across guns and drugs but fortunately nothing that “required calling the coroner.”
Duston installed security cameras and signed on with Operation Safe Stay, a program where the Greeley Police Department partners with multifamily housing managers, landlords and area hotel managers to keep their properties safe.
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