The historic Hacienda hotel in New Port Richey will soon become a construction zone as the restoration project starts.
But before it does, the city invited residents inside to get a rare tour of the early 20th century hotel.
Many residents, like Terry Broderick, pass by the building every day and jumped at the opportunity to step inside.
“It’s been here forever and every time I passed it you couldn’t come in,” Broderick said. “I love old buildings, I think it’s great.”
Old photographs and blue prints lined the tour, as patrons snaked throughout the first and second floors. But Terry is more interested in what she can’t see with the naked eye.
She stood at the base of the stairwell and took a photo.
“See those little orbs?” she said, pointing to her camera. Those are ghosts, she explained.
“I think all ghosts are friendly,” she said. “Just because Halloween says they’re crazy doesn’t mean that, most of them are nice.”
The Hacienda Hotel was built in 1926 and opened to the public in February 1927, for about $100,000.
The first phase of the restoration project will bring the outside of the building back to what it looked like when it was built in 1926.
“We’re redoing the roof, we’re replacing all the doors and we are taking a bunch of the additions off,” said David Salay.
Salay is an architect with Bender and Associates. His firm has spent the past year researching, analyzing and drawing up the blue prints for the project.
Construction should start in January and Salay said it should take about a year.
“Maybe by this time next year, the building will look like it did back in 1926,” Salay said.
Once the restorations are complete, Terry hopes to rent a room in the hotel. She wants to continue her ghost hunt.