City to demolish top floor of Hotel Marysville and reopen Highway 70. Here’s the timeline

Almost five months after a fire destroyed Hotel Marysville, causing a stretch of Highway 70 to close, Marysville and Yuba County officials have a plan to reopen the road in January.

City officials have sought help from Yuba County and the Yuba Water Agency to split the cost, estimated from $700,000 to $840,000, of demolishing the top floor of the hotel, clearing the way for the city and Caltrans to reopen the northbound lanes beside the downtown landmark.

Yuba County supervisors were scheduled Tuesday to consider paying $250,000 toward the cost of demolishing the top floor of the hotel, according to a county report.

The northbound lanes of Highway 70, known in Marysville as E Street, have been closed since the June 15 fire, causing traffic backups, detours and disruptions to businesses near the downtown closure. The closure has also slowed down emergency response times and stands in the way of evacuation routes, according to the report.

City Council members directed City Manager Jim Schaad at a meeting last week to get funding and arrange for work on Hotel Marysville with a goal of reopening Highway 70.

City officials sued hotel owners last month for $5 million in damages as a dispute between the two sides continued after hotel owners apparently failed to respond to a panel’s order to demolish the fire-damaged building.

“The city and hotel property owner interests remain in communication with a view to resolving their differences regarding the overall disposition of the hotel structure and property and its costs,” Schaad said in a news release.

This story was originally published November 12, 2024 at 2:44 PM.