In 1992, the Mission Inn had been surrounded by chain-link fencing for seven years. What was supposed to have been a two-year renovation had dragged on. The owner went bankrupt. The lender completed the renovation to be able to market the Riverside property.

But a recession was a bad time to sell a hotel. Besides, the ornate, overstuffed Mission Inn — which occupied a full block in a dead downtown — had been losing money since the Eisenhower era.

The Mission Inn was viewed by some as a white elephant, too big and out of fashion to succeed.

In stepped Duane Roberts , a shrewd businessman in Laguna Hills who’d grown up in Riverside and had a sentimental attachment to the property.

Roberts made an offer of $15.6 million, far below the estimated $55 million Chemical Bank, with help fro

See Full Page