Officials break ground on $100M lodge at Potato Creek State Park
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State officials broke ground Thursday on one of northern Indiana’s most highly anticipated projects — a $100 million lodge at Potato Creek State Park.
The project — which will feature a hotel, conference center, indoor aquatic center and more — comes as the first Indiana State Park lodge to be built since 1939.
“This newest chapter in our Indiana State Parks story will provide an open door to more visitors to this special place, helping them make memories among these beautiful surroundings for generations to come,” Indiana Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Bortner said.
The lodge has been discussed for decades with multiple starts and stops as state lawmakers debated the best means for funding the project.
But this spring, with repeatedly rosy state budget forecasts boosted by billions in federal pandemic relief funds, lawmakers built support for the oft-proposed project into the state’s biennial budget.
With seven state park inns currently scattered across Indiana, and only one in northern Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb said a lodge at Potato Creek has long remained a priority. The new lodge will join the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park outside of Angola in the northern part of the state.
“This was always a priority because it dates back to commentary from former governor Doc Bowen,” Holcomb told reporters Thursday. “To see this come to fruition and be realized in a couple of years, I can’t wait to put my head in a bed.”
At the groundbreaking, state officials shared design concepts for the lodge for the first time publicly. The project’s budget allocates $5 million for design services in addition to $100 million for construction.
Officials say the lodge will feature 120 guest rooms, a 150-person dining room and 350-capacity conference center. It will also have small indoor and outdoor meeting spaces, a mini-nature room, a cafe and a gift shop and will offer lakeside views from its location at the park’s Whispering Winds Picnic area on the south side of Worster Lake.
Gov. Eric Holcomb speaks about why Potato Creek State Park was chosen for the construction of Indiana’s first state park inn since 1939.
The lodge will be run by the Indiana Inns Authority, an arm of the DNR’s Division of State Parks and promises to bring new business surrounding communities. A spokesperson with Indiana DNR said the lodge, when it opens, will employ 20 full-time team members in addition to other part-time or intermittent staff. The park will also add staff to support Potato Creek visitors.
Vicki Kitchen, town manager for nearby North Liberty, told Inside INdiana Business last month that the rural, south St. Joseph community is excited for local job creation and the business the lodge will bring to the town’s Main Street shops.
“They’re gonna need chefs,” Kitchen said. “They’re gonna need housekeepers. They’re gonna need bartenders. They’re gonna need maintenance people. So, it’s very exciting for jobs plus the tourism to the town.”
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This rendering shows the entrance of the 120-guest-room lodge. (Image provided by Indiana DNR)
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This rendering shows the lobby of the lodge to be built at Potato Creek State Park. (Image provided by Indiana DNR)
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An indoor aquatic center is among the many amenities proposed for the lodge. (Image provided by Indiana DNR)
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An aerial view of the lodge shows its size near Potato Creek’s Worster Lake. (Image provided by Indiana DNR)
Leaders of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians joined the groundbreaking Thursday to commend state officials for their efforts to advance once-fractured relationships with the only federally recognized tribe in Indiana and to bless the land at Potato Creek that their ancestors once used to hunt, farm and fish. Parks officials also made note of the parks’ history as home to the Huggart Settlement, a free Black community established in the mid-1800s.
“It’s great that this land is shared with all of those that visit this park,” Pokagon Band Chairwoman Rebecca Richards said. “Any time that our community can expand its services and bring in tourism to share all of the beauty and offerings that we have, we commend anyone that does that.”
Holcomb talks about the return on investment state officials hope to see from the new lodge.
The parks department says staff will offer activities like boating and ice fishing to keep guests engaged throughout the seasons, and state officials say they’re confident the state will recoup its $100 million investment in the park over time.
“We think this is going to work,” Bortner said. “If you look at our lodging system and the popularity of our lodging system, our occupancy rates are higher than what you see in the private sector. We think this will be just exactly along those lines.”
Officials say they do not yet have an exact date for opening, but expect the project to wrap up in 2026 or 2027. Pricing for hotel stay, conference facility use and more also is yet to be decided, but officials say it’s likely to be comparable to that of Indiana’s other state park inns.
More information about the Potato Creek lodge project is available at on.IN.gov/potato-creek-lodge.