Last March, Three Lakes was devastated by the loss of the landmark Oneida Village Inn complex due to fire. Nearly a year later, the Town of Three Lakes is looking at a study to see if another lodging establishment in the heart of the community is feasible.
Town Chair Jeff Bruss says there has been private interest is possibly developing the open lot. But he says the interested parties wanted more information...
"...Can Three Lakes support a hotel? Before someone just wants to come in and do private funding they want some more research done. There was small franchise hotel that required it done before they would consider building in a town the size of Three Lakes. So we decided with private investment interests and the small franchise interest, things like that, I thought it might be best for the town to take on the feasibility study...."
Bruss says if the study comes back positive for a development they would quickly recoup that money spent on the study. Bruss says right now they have the study out for quotes from contractors costing between $4,000 and $10,000.
Bruss says the town board is likely to make a decision next month and if approved, he thinks the study could take 4-6 weeks. Bruss says some of the developers said they would reimburse the cost of the study..
"...What we want to do is shop this to the developers and say, 'hey, Three Lakes is either a good place to build a hotel or if it's not, then we do nothing. The last thing we want is a great big empty building in town from a company that went bankrupt or just didn't work or whatever it is...."
The Oneida Village was about 40 rooms and Bruss says the developers thought that was about the size they would consider. He says they want to find out in the surrounding area how often do you fill a 40-room hotel? He says those and other questions they hope to answer.
