Downtown hotel gets state funding boost

Article originally published as “Downtown hotel gets state funding boost” by Gordon Dritschilo

April 7, 2023

Rutland Herald

Efforts at building a downtown hotel have gotten a $500,000 boost from the state, but the developer says the project likely remains a year or two from becoming a reality.

The Belden Co. has been working toward building a hotel at the downtown parking pit and the corner of Center and Wales streets, which was once the site of the Berwick Hotel. A round of state Community Recovery and Revitalization Program grants announced last month included $500,000 toward the estimated $35 million project cost.

“It’s certainly an excellent step in the right direction,” company Vice President Justin Belden said Thursday.

The grant award described plans for a six-story building, with four floors taken up by the hotel and the remaining two consisting of market-rate apartments. Other signed specifics included a U-shape structure with a courtyard in the middle. Belden said the existing building on the site — once the location of the Rutland Herald and now the home of the Housing Trust of Rutland County — will remain in place.

Belden said they anticipate a 99-room hotel and 26 to 28 apartments. He said $35 million was a preliminary cost estimate and that the company is still working through the process to deal with contamination at the site.

“We haven’t pursued financing yet,” he said. “We’re working on some preliminary design to get some hard cost estimates that’ll drive those decisions. We’re excited the state recognized the importance of it because it’s such a challenging project financially. It’s still pretty early, so we’re playing our cards really close to the vest.”

City leaders have been looking for someone to build a hotel downtown since a 2013 study indicated there was a market for one.

A proposal to build one where Depot Park stands fizzled several years ago, and a plan to build one in the Pit appeared to be making progress until financing fell apart early in the pandemic.

Lyle Jepson, executive director of Chamber & Economic Development for the Rutland Region, said the recent wrestling tournament hosted at the Rutland Recreation Community Center pointed to the need for such a hotel. Recreation Superintendent Kim Peters described earlier this week how 1,200 people attended the event. Many were from outside the area and spent the night nearby, she said.

However, with few hotel rooms available in the city or town, Jepson said, the city was missing out on tax revenue. It was also missing out on a key component for marketing such events in the future.

“That’s a huge problem,” he said. “A lot of hotel rooms have been taken offline and I don’t know when or if they will be returning. I would think this is the perfect time to introduce a new boutique hotel. ... You could walk to restaurants. You could walk to the Paramount Theatre.”