SULLIVAN, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Mike Hicks, owner of Hoosier Hospitality LLC says that he is excited about all of the potential the city of Sullivan has to offer the community and the opportunities for his new hotel.
Hicks hopes to attract wedding guests from the civic center to contractors in the area for work as well as patrons visiting town for youth sports tournaments. He also looks forward to being hands-on in the hotel in downtown Sullivan to make a positive impact on the local community.
Mayor Clint Lamb says the hotel is a game changer for the community, “I don’t know when the last time an 8.6, give or take couple hundred thousand, private investment was dropped into the middle of downtown.”
The hotel is said to add twenty permanent jobs to the community. Jobs that owner Mike Hicks hopes to fill with Sullivan County locals.
“When we start, from day one, we want a smiling face when you walk into the front door and a clean hotel. Employees from Sullivan County, that’s our goal,” Hicks said.
You may recall back in 2019 plans were announced for the possibility of a hotel in downtown Sullivan. While city leaders and county entities knew a need, a feasibility study proved it.
Mayor Lamb hosted several local businesses and organizations when working on the study. An open conversation was had, and they discussed the need for accommodations in the community. The results from the study proved the need for accommodations was even greater, Lamb recalled the phone call he got with the results stating that the city actually qualified for a 60 to 80-room national chain hotel. Double what they’d hoped for.
Those plans are now a reality as the Hicks’ financing for the hotel was approved in early July. A significant milestone in the project.
The hotel will be built to the west of the Sullivan Civic Center. The hotel’s front entrance is said to face West on Court Street with the back patio on the east side of the hotel connecting the civic center and the hotel.
“I don’t know a lot of cities our size, especially ones without a state road coming through the downtown to have this,” Lamb said. “I think it’s an example for the rest of rural Indiana to see what can happen, what’s possible.”
Mayor Lamb went on to say, “Grants are great, but you can’t live off grants forever. But the grants are incentives to help spark and stir. So, I believe that you’re seeing a return on that investment.”
The Hicks aren’t new to the hotel industry.
“My wife and I have the Comfort Suites over at French Lick and we have Larry Bird’s Estate there also,” Hicks said. “And then we have the new hotel at the junction of I-69 and 231, there at Crane.”
The Crane Hotel is said to be very similar to what can be expected in Sullivan. The Choice Hotel brand will bring two franchises, including Mainstays and Sleep Inn, and a total of 65 rooms.
Hicks said that 29 rooms will be extended stay rooms as part of the Mainstays franchise. Those rooms will feature kitchenettes and are larger than typical hotel rooms. The remaining 36 rooms will be regular hotel rooms as part of Sleep Inn.
What kind of amenities can you expect?
Hicks says, “An indoor pool, a hot breakfast, including bacon and eggs and biscuits and gravy. There will also be a patio between the two buildings, the civic center, and the hotel.”
Hicks added that the hotel will also feature a fitness center and a jacuzzi suite.
The hotel will help bring more people to downtown. Something the city continues working towards and a large factor in the Hicks’ decision to build in Sullivan. Hicks said the events and activities currently happening at the Civic Center will benefit the hotel, and the hotel’s option of also utilizing the civic center is a big deal. The green space at Sullivan Central Plaza makes it that much more appealing to be in the neighborhood.
“To help replenish that activity,” Lamb said. “And that’s what Sullivan Central Plaza does, that’s what the Sullivan Civic Center does, and now that’s what the downtown Sullivan hotel does. It continues to replenish synergy and the activity that our city enjoyed for many, many decades.”
Lamb said the hotel is on a sustainable path of progress.
“The innkeeper’s tax will be collected by tourism. Property taxes collected will be put into a TIFF district, Tax Increment Finance District,” Lamb said.
Those downtown TIFF funds are captured to help fund future projects in the downtown district.
Lamb went on to say that the heart of the community is everything.
“That’s why there’s been such an emphasis on the downtown. Whether it’s the townhomes that you’re about to be seeing coming here in a few months, whether it’s the pub that hopes to open up sometime between now and September there on the north side of the square,” Lamb said.
As for the next steps for the hotel; Hicks said they have hired a local general contractor. They hope to break ground something this fall. Construction is said to take one year.
