Shiprock hotel and restaurant has a name

WINDOW ROCK – The new Shiprock hotel and restaurant has a name.

According to Carly Sapp, the project manager for Navajo Hospitality Enterprise, the suggested name for the new hotel and restaurant is “Shiprock Pinnacle Hotel and Shiprock Pinnacle Restaurant.”

This up-and-coming project has been in the talks for years, and now that the project has been approved in 2022, the project brings hope for job opportunities and sales tax to the Navajo Nation and the Shiprock community.

The project includes a four-story 83-room hotel and a 114-seat restaurant, according to the fourth quarterly report on Dec. 31, 2023, provided by Navajo Hospitality Enterprise.

The restaurant will be a free-standing building with 3,962 square feet of meeting space.The expected location for the hotel and restaurant would be north of the Wells Fargo on U.S. Highway 491, northwest of the intersection with New Mexico Highway 64, where the Bureau of Indian Affairs developed approximately 40 acres of tribal trust land known as the Shiprock Administrative Reserve in 1903, according to a resolution in 2021.

Shiprock Chapter Vice President Debra Yazzie said that over the years, Shiprock Chapter has assisted with the legal survey from 2015 to 2019. During those times, the chapter officials requested the study and completed it by demolishing the 40 BIA buildings.

This action was sponsored by Council Delegate Eugenia Charles-Newton in 2021 to prepare for future community economic development.

Before the 24th Navajo Nation Council approved the project, the Council stated it would take roughly two years to construct and cost $22.5 million.

However, because of increased supply costs since 2016, the funding shortfall was fulfilled when Legislation No. 0258-22 appropriated the $11.4 million. According to the Navajo Hospitality Enterprise, $970,000 will be put toward architecture and design, $700,000 for site improvements, $800,000 for mandatory NTUA utility upgrades, $17.9 million for building construction, and $2 million for hotel and restaurant furniture and equipment, according to the Council’s July 2022 report.

Although the Shiprock Chapter has assisted in many ways with this project, Yazzie said the chapter has only the basic information regarding the project timeline since last year and has not been updated.

“It (project) is supposed to be completed in June 2024,” Yazzie said, from her understanding. “I just had Michele (Peterson) follow up with Carly (Sapp).” However, the chapter has not received any updates regarding quarterly reports other than the first report since March 2023.

“Nothing new, so far,” Michele Peterson, the Shiprock community service coordinator, told the Navajo Times. “Nothing updated yet.”

The Times asked Charles-Newton numerous times – through emails and text messages – for an update on the project. The Times didn’t receive a response before Tuesday’s deadline.

History overview

On July 25, 1918, Shiprock had a new hotel called the “Lodge at Shiprock,” which was owned and operated by Sam Orr and his family when he moved from Aztec to Shiprock, according to a Farmington Times-Hustler article (now Farmington Daily Times).

After that, in 1923, the Bond family formed the Bond Hotel Company, where Karl Ervin Bond and his family operated the hotel, resulting in the Bond company making improvements to the building.

According to the article, the rear porch faced Tsé Bit’a’í and the Rattlesnake oilfield.

In 1928, five years later, the Lodge offered 10 rooms with private baths for $2.50 a night and 15 rooms for 75 cents a night. Meals were 60 cents, the article reads.

After many years of operation and with various owners, the hotel became known as the Hotel Shiprock or Shiprock Hotel in 1947.

After several months of operation, the hotel burned down by arson on April 5, 1979, according to the article. After that, the hotel was fenced off, and in September 2001, the Navajo Nation demolished the Lodge at Shiprock.

“The new Shiprock hotel/restaurant has been 60 years in the making,” Yazzie said. “The last hotel that was open actually burned down, and we had hotels in the past.”

Yazzie said people wanted to build hotels over time, but the Navajo Nation wasn’t willing to sign the sovereignty waiver. In July 2022, the Navajo Division of Economic Development sales tax grant of $2.8 million was submitted. Former President Jonathan Nez signed the submittal in October 2022, during which the business unit and contract numbers were also received. The grant was to be disbursed in December 2022.

The report suggests the Sihasin Fund grant for $11.4 million was submitted in December 2022, which Nez signed in February 2023—followed by the business unit number in March 2023. The contract number was received two months later, and the funds were disbursed in May 2023.

The report suggests that the Permanent Trust Fund grant for $8.3 million is pending the 164-approval process before disbursement.

According to Sapp, a re-bid schedule document indicates the timeline for the next few months regarding the project. Based on the timeline, the construction period will begin on April 15 and end on June 8, 2025. Still, Sapp said the next phase is receiving construction bids from interested general contractors.

Economic growth

The Shiprock area gets an average daily traffic of 12,000 vehicles, according to Yazzie. She said the maximum of vehicles could soar to 35,000 or more, depending on events in the area.

When asked how the new hotel and restaurant would improve the outcome of the community, Yazzie said, “Taking a percentage of that, how many would actually stay at the hotel, we would book rooms every night.”

“We (Shiprock Chapter) asked if we could have at least 10 rooms that are for a weekly stay, like a suite,” Yazzie continued, “so that any traveling health care workers or anyone that needs a long-term stay, would actually have a suite.”

Many of the suggested ideas of how to utilize the rooms, Yazzie said Shiprock Chapter suggested it would allow the opportunity for the dire need of healthcare workers and teachers for hospitals and schools to receive their service and have a place to stay.

“Housing is the number one concern for our community,” Yazzie said, referring to a 2019 community survey. “That is what people wanted.”

The new hotel and restaurant development ensures job opportunities for the Shiprock community, allowing potential workers to be trained, use their skills, and be close to home.

“Students could get a part-time job or full-time while working at the hotel/restaurant,” Yazzie said. “It’s all about tourism and capturing those dollars for tax base for our chapter.”

Other communities in the Nation have their hotel and restaurants, like Window Rock, Tuba City, Kayenta, Chinle, and upcoming Shonto and Crownpoint.

“We’re in high need and could be a massive tourism attraction,” Yazzie said. “Because we have people that want to stay in Shiprock.”

According to Yazzie, the Shiprock Chapter has been working with the Navajo Tourism Department for a potential tourism center next to the hotel and restaurant.

“They (Tourism) do have the architectural plans for the Shiprock visitor center,” Yazzie said. “Those plans are ready to go, but we need construction dollars.”

The Navajo Tourism Department didn’t respond to the Times’s request for comment before Tuesday’s deadline.

“We certainly need the hotel,” Yazzie said. “A lot of travelers will use it.”

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