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Cobblestone Hotel and Suites will build west of the windmill in Little Chute. (Photo: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Developer Jerry Van Dyn Hoven’s passing last month will not derail a project he’d worked on for many years — the proposed hotel in downtown Little Chute.
Van Dyn Hoven, 65, died July 16 after a long battle with cancer.
“I’ve gotten a lot of support from the village, from our lender and from my professional team. I’m humbled and poised to see it to fruition,” said Nicole Lemens, his daughter and hotel project partner. “We had done the proper planning and now the hotel can move forward.”
Van Dyn Hoven was a Kaukauna native well-known for decades in the car business – he sold his Van Dyn Hoven Imports on Victory Lane in Grand Chute in 2009 to Bergstrom Automotive – and as a sometimes-controversial real estate developer under the name Dutch Boyz Development.
One of his memorable projects in 2002 was relocating the 170-ton Starlite Diner from Grand Chute to Kaukauna. It took out 15 mailboxes on its 18-hour crawl. He paid to have them all replaced.
“He was always creative. He was always willing to overcome any hurdle. He was full of life,” said Lemens. “He always said to us kids, ‘With ordinary intelligence and extra ordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.’”
With his passing, she is now the sole owner of the hotel.
The four-story Cobblestone Hotel and Suites will be built on a plot of land bordered by Monroe, Main and Madison streets, just west of the windmill.
“Things will continue to move forward and the Village Board will review the hotel’s site plan on Wednesday,” said James Fenlon, village administrator. “The plan commission previously recommended it unanimously for approval.”
Demolition of the rental houses on the site is complete, and the 10-month construction timeline puts the hotel’s opening around summer 2021.
Its value is guaranteed to be at least $5.5 million, according to the development agreement with the village, but Fenlon said the hotel’s cost will likely be closer to $6.5 million. It is in the village’s tax incremental financing district.
“The hotel is estimated to generate a total of $3 million of increment over the life of TID No. 8. The development agreement calls for a pay-as-you go incentive not to exceed $1.1 million,” Fenlon said.
The incentive would be paid over 17 years. The village also received a $250,000 Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. grant that will be given to the project.
Contact reporter Maureen Wallenfang at 920-993-7116 or [email protected] Follow her on Twitter at @wallenfang.
More: The Buzz: Updates on four local projects, big and small, in Appleton and Grand Chute
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