(Las Animas, CO) -- Brimark Builders is working to put a new 41 room hotel in Las Animas. Tim Shefchik with BriMark Builders explained to Las Animas City Council this week that
Cobblestone hotels has only been around since 2008 and started in Wisconsin.
The presentation stated that Cobblestone has quickly become one of the fastest growing hotel chains. What makes it different is that it was originally developed to fit in more rural communities. Shefchik said they have built hotels in Holyoke, Wray, Eads, Kersey, Eaton, Yuma construction started in Springfield and Lamar
So how does a community like las animas get an upper midscale hotel that fits between a Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express.? The answer is community investment in the project.
Shefchik elaborated, "What makes cobblestone uniquely different in the hotel industry is that we can fit in rural America, we have prototypes with as few as 31 rooms, but it does not sacrifice quality, guest service, or any of the amenities going into the property."
The first step in bringing a hotel chain like Cobblestone to Las Animas is the completion of a feasibility study or a look at how it would and could work.
This was completed by an independent third party. The Bent County Economic Development Foundation, BriMark Builders LLC, and the city of Las Animas funded the study.
Shefchik said that an incentive package is next. The reason is to make sure the hotel will look attractive to investors so that it will be 100 percent community owned.
The cost of project is estimated to be between 6 to 6.5 million dollar project. They would need more than a million cash to begin. However, Shefchik said once the hotel is built, it is expected to stimulate more economic growth for the community. He said a study they've done shows the average money spent by a tourist staying in a community is more than $175 dollars per day. He added that a hotel brings outside money into the community's economy and would create eight to ten jobs at the hotel. He explained there could be further job creation due to the fact that tourists eat at restaurants, need fuel and other supplies on their trips.
Mayor Scott Peterson said they will have the city attorney look at the project to see if it would be a good fit for the community.
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