West Seattle’s made-over motel The Grove gets ready to reopen

By the 4th of July weekend, The Grove/West Seattle Inn – our peninsula’s only motel – plans to reopen, two months after closing for the first phase of extensive renovations. We’ve been chronicling the renovation plans since the motel’s new owners, longtime West Seattleites, announced them back in December. They’re having a community open house next Monday, and they have reservations for their first guests, starting with the pre-4th of July weekend. But to put it bluntly, some wonder how they will keep out the seedy clientele that kept many legitimate visitors away in recent years. That’s one of the questions we asked Lynn Sweeney, spokesperson for the owners, who granted our request for a tour this week – read on:

When we arrived on Monday morning, a big Serta truck was unloading new mattresses. The renovations go all the way down to the shell of the building – not just new furnishings, like the beds and chairs, but even new railings on the second floor; what was plastic, is now steel – as you can see in the photo above. Some fancier outdoor fixtures are up, too:

Some of the originally floated plans have changed, Sweeney says. They’re not looking to close off one of the parking areas to convert into a courtyard – at least, not for starters. Part of the motel’s second floor, however, will be a secure wing, where groups would be able to book a block of rooms.

If you’ve never been to the motel before – we hadn’t – it’s larger than it looks when you drive by. It will have 46 rooms when the renovation work is done, some small, some large, even two rooms that can be co-rented as a family suite, with bunk beds in one. More than half a dozen will have kitchenettes. They’ll all have mini-fridges:

Some former features are going away – two ground-floor units have hot tubs that are being removed. And some are being added: All rooms will have West Seattle-themed decor, with at least two new framed sepia-tone photos going into each room – the photography was commissioned for The Grove, Sweeney says, with some of them showing well-known West Seattle signs – even WSB sponsor Hotwire Coffee:

Wi-fi? Definitely in the lobby, where continental breakfast will be available to guests, too. The rest of the property – they’re still working on that.

Now, that thorny question. What will keep the motel from being patronized heavily by the same type of clientele that led to its downfall – culminating in the March SWAT standoff that led the new owners to completely close for the renovation work, abandoning the original “stay open” plan?

Sweeney says for one, no more cash-only rentals. You can pay cash, but you have to have a valid credit card. For two, it’s an entirely nonsmoking property – not just in the rooms, but even outside and around the rooms. For three, security monitoring will be set up prominently in the lobby. For four, it’ll be a higher price point – “no more $49 rooms,” Sweeney says. And beyond all that, they just hope that a legitimate lodging-seeking clientele will continue to bring in more of the same.

No guest room was complete enough for us to photograph during our visit, but some will be when you check out The Grove/West Seattle Inn during next Monday’s open house, 4 pm-7 pm (June 27). The motel will be reopening without all the renovations being complete – about half the rooms will be ready to go when guests start arriving toward the end of next week, but some areas will be roped off when you visit for the open house. (Catered, Sweeney says, by Husky Deli and Pagliacci Pizza.)

26 Replies to "West Seattle's made-over motel The Grove gets ready to reopen"

  • SudsyMaggie June 22, 2011 (5:15 pm)

    Wow, sounds like they’re really putting a lot of time, money, and effort in. I applaud them! It will be great to have a lovely little motel in West Seattle.

  • Rasmus June 22, 2011 (5:20 pm)

    I stayed at the old motel in 2005 when I first moved to West Seattle. I was there for a few weeks and never felt in any danger or like I had anything to worry about. But was it dingy and in need of a make-over? Absolutely.

    I think it’s great they’ve chosen to showcase local spots and businesses. What better place to do that than in a place of lodging? I hope the succeed in keeping the unsavory elements away for good.

  • dameDonna June 22, 2011 (5:26 pm)

    I can’t wait to see more! Hopefully my out-of-town family won’t mind staying there anymore (it had gotten really bad). Of course, I hope it’s also not priced out of their budget.

    Great job, The Grove!

  • Billy June 22, 2011 (5:40 pm)

    Great job Lynn. What a positive transformation for our West Seattle Community.Best of Luck

  • 35this35mph June 22, 2011 (5:41 pm)

    Hmmm, you know I’m all for keeping a safe clean hotel on the peninsula, but requiring a credit card troubles me. Folks could choose not to have one for any number of reasons,,, Is it legal to turn down folks who are holding legal tender?

  • resident3 June 22, 2011 (6:33 pm)

    This is awesome, best of luck with the venture, and THANK YOU for giving our family somewhere decent and close to stay when they visit!

  • Alvis June 22, 2011 (6:45 pm)

    My compliments to your photographer for this story. The light and framing remind me of Edward Hopper paintings.

  • Sheridan June 22, 2011 (6:46 pm)

    The lack of a West Seattle hotel has created problems for us every time we visit. We wish this hotel great success and we hope that more hotels will be built in the West Seattle area for future visitors.

  • WSB June 22, 2011 (7:02 pm)

    Dear Alvis: Thanks, I guess? It was just me with the aging iPhone 3GS – TR

  • Krystal June 22, 2011 (7:29 pm)

    35-It’s a private business so they can set whatever rules they find necessary for their guests.

    After working both at high- and low-end hotels, I can tell you that it is not uncommon to require a credit/debit card when booking a reservation.

    Unfortunately, some cash-only customers aren’t the best ones, although they sometims only using the room for a few hours at a time. Bring on the haz-mat suit! (Not to rag on legit cash only people, I pay cash for everything and keep a CC with a zero balance to book hotels only).

  • Jiggers June 22, 2011 (7:59 pm)

    I stayed there several imes in the last two years. One time I had a room that looked like the front door had gatling bullet holes. As a poster said here before, it was scary aweful The few pictures provided here really looks like a 100% improvement over what it used to be before. The previous owners weren’t going to put any more effort into renovations, so, I’m glad they are out of there.I’m not expecting the same cheap prices with the new owners though.

  • westside June 22, 2011 (8:05 pm)

    Genius! They will do so well. The rooms look beautiful! We hope to see more pics on the blog?

  • April June 22, 2011 (9:04 pm)

    I am excited about this. We have frequent visitors, and it will be so great to be able to recommend a place to stay right in West Seattle! Sounds like it will be much nicer than it was previously. And perhaps still more reasonably priced than staying downtown. Would love to find out their rates. Hopefully their first batch of guests will share their reviews with the rest of us. I would love to hear the feedback.

  • Kathleen June 22, 2011 (9:18 pm)

    I am really excited about having a decent motel here in W Seattle. I really hope they keep the riff raff out. The old place has been scary for years. If requiring a credit card does the trick, so be it.
    We had a family wedding last year and would have loved to have been able to get a block of rooms there, but instead had to have people stay farther away at the Silver Cloud Inn in Sodo. That is a nice hotel, but it would have been easier on all if they all could have stayed here in W Seattle. So, good luck!

  • Chief Sealth c/o 95 June 22, 2011 (10:38 pm)

    Drug dealers have credit… meth and crack dont really have a smell with glade air freshner… People are not going to pay top dollar to stay in the west when they can be downtown instead at the same price. There is a reason there are not any other hotels in west Seattle, no one is here to tour whitecenter. It will be the same thing all over, best of luck!

  • ellenater June 22, 2011 (11:09 pm)

    I love this picture!!!!!

  • Steph June 22, 2011 (11:51 pm)

    Chief Sealth, I tour White Center for the awesome restaurants….
    As for real tourists, I stay in North Vancouver every time I visit Vancouver, BC. Great neighborhood, safe to leave car/much easier parking and only a Seabus ride away from main downtown area…..sounds a lot like West Seattle.

  • metrognome June 23, 2011 (3:14 am)

    would be nice if they included something on their website about guests with disabilities…no mention if any of the rooms are accessible to wheelchair users, no mention of technology for deaf guests (both things that needed to be dealt with in a remodel of this magnitude,) no mention of assistive animals in the section on pets … some of the hotel is still back in the 50’s.

    • WSB June 23, 2011 (4:03 am)

      I can speak to a bit of that. One of the ground-level rooms will be equipped and set up to meet ADA, Lynn told me while touring. That’s not to say no others will be accessible, but this one will meet all the requirements. – TR

  • metrognome June 23, 2011 (5:54 am)

    TR — thanks for the info; once they get past the craziness of opening, I’ll email them and give them specific suggestions about what they need on their website. I’ll also see if I can get to the Open House. Our condo is going through extensive renovations and I may need a nearby place to stay for a night or two. This would certainly be convenient.

  • morcaffeineplease June 23, 2011 (6:45 am)

    I like the outdoor lights made out of stainless steel potracks! Clever…

  • Dean June 23, 2011 (9:05 am)

    Great news in having the old motel refurbished. A little personal history of the place – in 1960 my 3rd grade class at Jefferson (Mrs. Norton was the teacher) took a field trip to the then new MarLyn Motel to learn what a motel was like. My future wife was also in the class and we still have fond memories of that field trip and of our beloved teacher Mrs. Norton!

  • old timer June 23, 2011 (9:14 am)

    This is an outstanding commitment to West Seattle.
    I wish them the very best.
    It sure looks nice as I pass by on the #54!

  • Service Dog Academy June 23, 2011 (12:29 pm)

    This motel is now one step closer to for Service Dog Academy to open up our train your own diabetic alert class to students all over the country. We have requests from CA, NY, AK, OH, CO, TX, etc to hold classes and have not yet been able to secure a location for our students to stay at a reasonable rate.

  • 3dogslater June 24, 2011 (8:51 am)

    Are dogs allowed? What’s the fee?

  • PM June 27, 2011 (9:02 am)

    And located right across the street from one of the nicest municipal golf courses in the country!

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