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Article: Loss of a landmark; Officials say downtown can withstand shuttered Hotel Baker
- Article from:
- The Sun - Naperville (IL)
- Article date:
- January 23, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (c) 2002 Sun Publications. (Hide copyright information)
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Hotel Baker, located in the heart of downtown St. Charles, closed Thursday. City officials are hoping the closing will be temporary.
A historic part of St. Charles has closed again.
After negotiations for the sale of Hotel Baker did not go as expected, owners Craig Frank and Neil Johnson closed the hotel and laid off more than 100 employees Thursday.
But city officials, who once might have feared what such a closing would mean for downtown St. Charles, say the area can withstand losing the landmark.
"I don't think anyone is going to go out of business because (Hotel Baker) isn't there," Mayor Sue Klinkhamer said.
"If this was pre-1997, I would have been much more upset than I am today."
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