Soda Springs breaks ground on new hotel
A new hotel is coming to Soda Springs and on Tuesday, the city held a groundbreaking for it.
The hotel will be on the main road running through town, at 341 West 2nd South. It will replace the Old Lakeview Motel, which will be completely demolished in about two weeks.
The new hotel will be Cobblestone Inn & Suites. It will be the first Cobblestone Inn & Suites location in the entire state of Idaho.
The total cost is about $5 million and is paid for by local investors. All of the investors grew up in Soda Springs and wanted to give back to the community in some way. BriMark Builders is the company doing the construction.
The idea to bring a Cobblestone Inn & Suites came from one of the investors. He stayed at a Cobblestone location in Colorado and wanted to know what it would take to come to Soda Springs.
Brian Wogernese, the president and CEO of Cobblestone Hotels, said he thought Soda Springs was a good fit for the company. He said the goal is to try and help smaller communities who need hotels, and that’s why it’s coming to Soda Springs.
“There’s a need for a hotel in every community, it’s just how big,” Wogernese said. “Is it 2 rooms or is it 53 rooms? Then we kind of looked at the map and said, ‘Where are these communities that the larger, national brands that need 80 to 100 rooms will not come into?'”
The Soda Springs Cobblestone location will have 53 guest rooms. It will also have a conference room, a fitness room, a laundry facility, a convenience store, a wine and beer bar, and a free hot breakfast. All rooms will have a microwave and refrigerator. Each will also have 40-inch flat screen TVs.
Soda Springs mayor Jim Smith said adding this hotel fills a gap for the city, especially for tourism.
“Every year, we have hundreds of people that come through on their way to Jackson Hole to stay and they always say the same thing, ‘Man, we wish there was a place for us to stay so we could spend some more time in your community,’ and we’re going to have that now and it’ll be a great asset,” Smith said.
Smith hopes the hotel will draw more people to town. He said with more people coming and staying overnight, it will only have positive effects on the rest of the town. He said it will benefit the restaurants and all other local businesses, and so he’s excited about having it.
“We welcome with open arms the Cobblestone and the investment group and we’re just excited to start working with them,” Smith said.
Wogernese said they hope to have the hotel complete in about 7 to 8 months. Soda Springs will be the company’s 82nd location.
