Motel 6 Shift to Shelter Adding Needed Beds

Flagstaff Shelter Services bought the 104-room motel on Lucky Lane in April 2023 for $8.95 million. When completed, the FSS transitional shelter will increase capacity by more than 40%.

“We’re rounding the bend on, unfortunately, two years of construction in that spot. We have hit a ton of hiccups,” said Ross Schaefer, FSS executive director for the past decade.

The FSS property, called the Lantern, is the nonprofit group’s second motel conversion. It purchased the Howard Johnson motel at 3300 E. Route 66 in April 2022 for $6.19 million and moved people into the 58 rooms immediately.

That facility is called the Crown because the original building opened circa 1966 as the Crown Motel. It was rebranded as a Howard Johnson motel in 1991.

The conversion issues at the Lantern included a code requirement to add fire-suppression sprinklers to the motel, which was built in 1978. Plus, FSS learned it had to replace failing outdoor walkways, railings and stairwells on the four-story building.

Schaefer was cautious about projecting when the Lantern will open but noted that it is badly needed to house people experiencing homelessness.

FSS operates an emergency shelter on Huntington Drive with 177 beds. The Crown’s 58 rooms, decorated in HoJo orange, can each accommodate one or more people. It has a mix of senior citizens, families and medically compromised individuals, Schaefer said.

The two FSS facilities are not enough to meet demand. “We have been running an overflow shelter for about 70 people per night,” she said.

They are bussed to local churches to sleep and can shower and get fed at the Huntington shelter.

FSS is the largest and only operational emergency shelter in Coconino County, according to Schaefer, adding that the Sunshine Rescue Mission on South San Francisco Street has been closed.

The shelter, operating since the 1960s, is getting closer to reopening, according to Kathie O‘Brien Knapp, CEO of Sunshine Rescue Mission Inc.

  The building’s roof was damaged by an October hailstorm, with water seeping into walls down to the first floor. A new roof was installed and the water damage has been repaired, she said in an email response.

The Mission is waiting on a permit from the city to finish a new intake area designed to increase security. Knapp said she does not yet have an exact date on reopening.     

“We are excited about getting this facility back open as it provides a path towards life change and restoration for our most vulnerable neighbors and friends.”

The reopening will help alleviate a shortage of shelter beds.

An annual survey to count Flagstaff’s homeless population in January totaled about 50 to 70 people, Schaefer said. She noted it’s difficult to get an accurate count since there’s no concentrated encampment as in other cities.

In any case, Flagstaff has already had four hypothermia deaths this winter, she said. “Between the forest fires, forest closures, floods and cold weather, [Flagstaff] is not a simple place to be living outdoors.”

She says the city’s housing availability and affordability is complicated by the number of second homes and vacation rentals, land constraints because of the surrounding national forest and it being a university town.

FSS, founded in 2006, provides emergency shelter and assistance to move those experiencing homelessness into stable housing. It also can provide subsidies to keep residents in their homes if they’re behind on their rent.

FSS pursued buying a motel after the COVID-19 pandemic forced shelters to close because of virus transmission risks. The homeless were housed at several Flagstaff motels during 2020.

That led to an improvement of healthcare outcomes and a decrease in crime, once people were housed in their own rooms, Schaefer said.

FSS bought the Crown Motel and Motel 6 with funding from the Arizona Department of Housing and assistance from the Forest Highlands and Arizona Diamondbacks foundations.

Current improvements underway at the Crown include repairs to the sidewalks and parking lot so the shelter is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Interior improvements, including adding kitchenettes to the rooms, have been delayed because federal funding has stalled, Schaefer said.   

FSS has also leased the Crown’s restaurant, which previously operated as the Crown Railroad Cafe. The space is being remodeled for a Mexican food restaurant called Los Tapatios. FBN

By Peter Corbett, FBN

Photo by Peter Corbett: New balcony walkways, railings and stairwells will be added to the former Motel 6 on Lucky Lane before it opens as a transitional homeless shelter, the Lantern.