Bridgewood Resort Hotel in Neenah will add 40 rooms with support from the city
NEENAH — Best Western Premier Bridgewood Resort Hotel & Conference Center will build a three-story, 40-room addition with public assistance from the city.
The expansion will increase the hotel's capacity from 95 rooms to 135. It will have a minimum property value of $1.5 million and an anticipated value of $3 million, according to a development agreement between the city and Bridgewood Holdings.
"We think we have a great opportunity to bring in more conferences to our market here," Rich Batley, principal owner of Bridgewood, told The Post-Crescent. "Because we run a pretty good occupancy right now, we weren't able to always take those groups, but by adding on 40 more rooms, it's going to give us more flexibility to do that."
Ryan Batley, general manager of Bridgewood, said sports tournaments at the Champion Center in Grand Chute also are driving business at the hotel.
Construction of the expansion is expected to start in May and be finished by March 2025.
Neenah will pay as much as $630,000 to Bridgewood Holdings as a financial incentive to bring the project to fruition. The money will be funded through Tax Incremental Financing District No. 12 and will be paid in annual installments over 17 years only after sufficient property taxes have been collected on the new development.
"Helping our local businesses grow is part of what we do," Neenah's Community Development Director Chris Haese said. "Bridgewood is a significant partner in the growth and development of the community. Clearly they are a destination for folks who are coming to Neenah to visit."
Pam Seidl, executive director of the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Bridgewood is the leading site for visitor traffic in Neenah, based on data from the research company Zartico.
"It makes sense," Seidl said. "Paper Valley (hotel) is No. 1 in Appleton. Visitors go to hotels. By far the most highly visited place in the city of Neenah is Bridgewood."
Visitors support the local economy. In addition to their hotel stay, they tour attractions, shop at stores, eat at restaurants and buy gas.
Haese said Bridgewood Holdings requested the TIF assistance due to unsuitable soil conditions and the need to mitigate wetland and floodplain issues.
Ryan Batley told the Common Council that the floodplain issues go above and beyond what would normally be expected in an expansion project of this size, making it cost prohibitive without TIF assistance.
A TIF district is a public funding tool that allows a municipality to capture gross property tax revenues from new development within a defined area to pay for costs incurred or promised to bring about that development. The tax revenues from the increment are diverted from the other taxing entities — school district, county and technical college — for as long as the district is in effect.
More:Neenah celebrates creation of 3,000 jobs, $45 million in tax base from two TIF districts
The expansion of the hotel, 1000 Cameron Way, will extend northeast from the midpoint of the building. In addition to the 40 guest rooms, it will have a meeting room and a fitness center for guests.
The addition will have a setback of 300 feet from residences to the north and 250 feet from residences to the east.
Bridgewood also will remodel the hotel lobby, construct a 364-square-foot addition to Batley's Grill & Bar, add 59 parking stalls and build a sidewalk along the north side of Cameron Way between the hotel and the Bridgewood Trail.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Bridgewood Resort Hotel in Neenah will add 40 rooms with aid from city