Historic Louisiana hotel can be yours for $1 a month!

One of Avoyelles Parish’s notable historic properties is available to the right entrepreneur. And it’s practically free.

The Bailey Hotel in Bunkie is being offered for $1 a month on a 24-month lease. Prospective tenants must have a business plan approved by ownership, including how they would renovate the property.

“This is really to help somebody in starting their business,” said Robert Burke, who is handling the leasing. “But you must have a plan. You must know how you’re going to get your money and how you’re going to make money.”

Built by Josephine Ernest between 1907 and 1909, the Bailey was originally known as the Hotel Ernest. R. Lee Bailey purchased the hotel at the intersection of Magnolia and Walnut streets and renamed it in 1918.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

The hotel served as the commercial and social center of Bunkie for most of the first half of the 20th century. It was expanded in the 1920s and given a facelift in 1941, when its signature Colonial Revival porch and entrance were added.

The Bailey operated as a hotel through the 1960s. It was closed for nearly 40 years before it reopened as a hotel in 2001 before closing again.

“This does two things,” Burke said. “One, it leads to a future sale, hopefully. Two, it brings activity back to a historic property. It’s such a beautiful piece of architecture and has so much history, you hate to see it go to waste. Instead of seeing it fall apart, this could be a neat thing to bring to Central Louisiana.”

The Bailey has 34 rooms, a large ballroom and what was a restaurant space with a bar area.

The property was renovated in 2001, when it reopened for a time as a hotel.

Some rooms in one wing of the building were “stripped down to the studs” to fix a leak in the roof, Burke said, and would have to be redone. But that is also an opportunity to reconfigure that part of the building, perhaps combining rooms to make larger spaces.

Burke said ownership is open to any type of reuse of the building, not just operating it as a hotel. It could be a natural for mixed use, with a business or businesses operating downstairs and apartments in the former guest rooms section.

A few years ago, the building was being considered for a women’s shelter.

“Right now, it’s geared toward a hotel, but it could be anything,” Burke said. “There’s so much it can be.”

If you're interested in more information on this property and conditions of leasing it, email Robert Burke at rburkerealtor@aol.com.