NORTH BEND —  Up the dusty stairs of the Hotel North Bend, and across the vacant spaces where rooms once stood, visitors and workers alike now find only floors strewn with bits of woods, tools and twisted cables.

With this in mind, it’s hard to imagine what the nearly 90-year-old building will look like when it’s returned to its 1920s glory late next year.

In the months ahead, workers must complete seismic retrofitting before more attractive renovations and a long-awaited paint job can take place, said Betty Tamm, the executive director of the Umpqua Community Development Corp. Umpqua CDC, which has owned the building for 21/2 years, plans to create units for affordable housing.

“You might call it the storm before the calm,” Tamm joked. “It’s a 15-month project so it will take a while. ... Unfortunately, the exterior won’t happen until spring.”

The plan was to demolish the former hotel’s 20 apartment units and build 33 apartments with kitchens and more room to move.

Walking through the hotel at 768 Virginia Ave., Tom Harmon, owner of Coos Bay-based Harmon Construction Co., described renovations that will recall the era in which it was constructed.

These will include recreating architectural elements, such as cornices, with moldings found in the hotel’s basement; replacing the awning on the hotel’s side entrance and restoring an image of an eagle on the east entrance.

“It will have a really strong resemblance to the original building,” the general contractor said. “I think the community is really excited about seeing this building restored and freshly painted.”

He noted that there is some hope among community members the improved hotel will serve as a catalyst for other business owners to fix up their properties. Many in the community consider the building to be eyesore plaguing North Bend’s downtown.

Since beginning deconstruction, Harmon’s crew hasn’t discovered any antiques or artifacts behind the walls.

“No wooden nickels or wooden dollars. I wish, that would be nice,” Tamm said.

But there have been some interesting construction-related finds. Harmon’s team uncovered a black steel beam that was hand-painted with the words “The Western Structural Steel Co. Portland, Or.” He said it was neat to imagine the person who wrote that.

Before construction begins in earnest, workers will strengthen the building to protect it from potential earthquakes by reinforcing connections between the floors and walls, and installing a hidden support wall. A new hydraulic elevator also will be installed. Harmon explained that other elements, such as plumbing, will be installed as seismic work is being done.

Tamm said the hotel renovations will make it much more energy efficient by adding insulation, improving windows, using low-volatile organic compound paints and carpeting that will have a recycle content. Doing so will keep utility bills down for tenants, she explained.

“It will be really nicely efficient,” Tamm said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

On the fourth floor, where carpenter Carl Wilt and another employee worked, Harmon pointed out a cut out of the character Yoda. He asked Wilt why the Star Wars character was on the wall.

“He gives us the force,” Wilt joked.

It’s all a challenge, Harmon explained, when dealing with such an old building and attempting to bring it up to modern day standards.

Another big obstacle is getting materials inside the building.

Everything must be delivered via a scissor lift and then passed through a window.

“It’s just slow, very slow. Everything ... has to be brought up in that same way,” he said.