Starke County seeks to fill lodging gap with new Knox hotel
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The Starke County Economic Development Foundation is looking to boost accommodations for travelers with a new hotel in Knox. The foundation is looking for investors for a 50-60 room hotel along U.S. 35 on the city’s south side. Executive Director Lisa Dan said the vast majority of businesses surveyed in a recent feasibility study indicated there is a need for a new hotel to serve business and leisure travelers, as well as families coming to the area for athletic tournaments.
Dan told Inside INdiana Business a new hotel has been needed for several years.
“We actually have a hotel here, but it has not been open since before COVID, and I am not aware of plans for it to reopen,” Dan said. “We’ve had a couple of investors who have come to town who are interested in perhaps purchasing the current hotel and renovating it into a nice brand, but [we’ve] really had no luck there.”
Currently, there are no open hotels on U.S. 35 between La Porte and Logansport.
“[We’ve heard] local industry saying, ‘Hey, we fly clients into the Starke County Airport, and then we have to send them to Plymouth or to Valparaiso for overnight accommodations,'” Dan said. “There’s just so many things that bring people to Starke County, and then if we want them to stay, we have no place for them to stay.”
The feasibility study was conducted last year, funded by the city of Knox and the Starke County Convention and Visitors Commission.
The foundation said of the individual businesses surveyed, 80% identified a specific need for lodging, and nearly 94% said there is a need for a new hotel in Knox.
Specifically, medical providers such as Northwest Health and Lutheran Air Ambulance identified a need for short-term accommodations for employees. Dan said Marian University’s Ancilla College and Culver Military Academy in nearby Marshall County also expressed interest in a new hotel.
“They think [a hotel] would be fantastic for them as well for parent weekends and sporting events and those sorts of things, because they’re within 15-20 minutes of Knox,” she said. “We see those kinds of folks being great assets for this type of project.”
Dan said a site on U.S. 35 near the old hotel has been identified as a possible location for the new hotel due to its proximity to area restaurants and available municipal water and sewer connections.
While she would like to begin construction tomorrow, Dan said it will take some time to get shovels in the ground, though the hope would be to begin work sometime this year.
“Now, what we are going to do is work with our board of directors and see if we can pull together an ad-hoc committee to help us find local investors out there,” she said. “We’re looking for about a 30% local investment right off the bat, and we have talked to some potential investors. Depending on that group, once they are established, it will be their idea on what they would like to see here.”
Potential investors can contact Dan to learn more at ldan@scedf.biz.