Work to start at convention center site

Unless you're shopping or sightseeing, motorists may want to steer clear of the northeast section of South Lake Tahoe starting next month.

Cedar Avenue and surrounding streets will become the center of a major utility construction job relative to the groundbreaking of the $410 million convention center and hotel condominium complex.

Beginning May 1, the work will proceed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday - with perhaps an occasional Saturday.

The demolition is expected to end in the next few weeks. Then the city will reroute a primary gas line that serves all of South Lake Tahoe and Meyers through the neighborhood and affecting businesses on Cedar, Laurel, Manzanita, Stateline and Park avenues. Poplar Avenue is set to close at that time.

Crews will also divert a main water line, upgrade an electrical system, and move phone and cable lines to wrap up the work in June.

In July, foundations are expected to be laid on the 12-acre site featuring the mainstream hotel condominium building then the convention center. It will be able to accommodate groups between 2,000 and 4,500 people because the facility was designed to be versatile - especially in the shoulder seasons, Lake Tahoe Development Co. attorney Lew Feldman explained.

But city officials, developers and general contractor SMC Contracting hosted a gathering at Embassy Suites on Tuesday to field questions on the job and meet with business owners to review what will happen near their property lines. About 30 people, mainly motel operators, showed up to hear the plans and the repeated pledges of officials that they will try not to disrupt their business, at a time when Tahoe approaches the summer season.

Listening in was John and Margaret Maxhimer, who own Lakeside Landing where the developer wants to set up a sales office. They were given an extension to May 1 to move out.

"We will do our best to do this construction in the slower months," Redevelopment Manager Gene Palazzo told the group.

Overall, the group appeared receptive to the changes intended to rehabilitate the side of Highway 50 across from the Marriott-anchored Heavenly Village.

"It's a minor inconvenience, but it's a good thing they're doing this," said Linda Foster, who runs the Tahoe Adventure Lodge farther down on Poplar Avenue. "And at least they're not working on the weekends. That's when I get the majority of my business."

Foster also liked the idea of the work managed by SMC Contracting, which worked on the $250 million project across Highway 50.

Luese Van Liere, who owns Big Pines Mountain House - formerly Viking Motor Lodge - said she plans to roll with the punches despite just arriving in August.

"I just wished it had happened 3-1/2 years ago," she said.

Feldman might be thinking the same thing. He informed the group he was teenager when the project started - a concept that came up a few decades ago.