Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts are claiming victory in their effort to restore the architect’s last standing hotel, a northern Iowa landmark that has fallen apart over the past few decades.

The Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, designed by Wright and completed in 1910, has been used as a hotel, apartments and even a strip club. It fell further into neglect while city officials searched unsuccessfully for a way to maintain the historic structure. Now, a private group has taken over the effort.

“It certainly has been an eyesore, it has had a very, very checkered history over past 40 to 50 years,” said Ann MacGregor, executive director of Wright on the Park Inc., the group behind a planned $18 million restoration.

The hotel is last remaining of six designed by Wright after the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was demolished in 1968. The Park Inn Hotel will have 20 suites when it reopens to the public in early 2011, MacGregor said.

The restoration has caused discord in the city that was home to “The Music Man” creator Meredith Willson. His boyhood home has been made into a museum, and there’s a life-sized replica of “The Music Man” movie set in downtown Mason City.

Some wonder why the hotel designed by Wright, considered by many to be America’s greatest architect, hasn’t had the same support.

“There are naysayers for this project … who don’t appreciate or understand the architectural, historical nature of this property,” MacGregor said. “They question what it will do for downtown Mason City.”