All that's needed now for a $15 million to $20 million expansion of Barker's Island Inn and Conference Center is the Superior City Council's stamp of approval.
The Superior Plan Commission gave approval this week to development of a tax-increment financing district worth up to $3 million. It also gave the OK for a special-use permit for a time-share condominium that's part of the expansion plan and adopted a certified survey map for the site where the expansion is slated to occur.
The project could get under way late next month if the council grants its approval of the financing, permit and map early in November.
During a Wednesday public hearing, Norm Vorhees of Duluth, president of the Northern Trades Building Council, said he supports the special use permit.
"It will not only benefit the building trades in the short term," he said. "It will also benefit the city of Superior in the long term and bring economic development to the town. We are in full support of this, and we hope it will move forward."
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The plan includes tripling the conference center, expanding the bar and restaurant and renovating the hotel in a fashion similar to the famous seaside Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.
"Being a resident of Barker's Island ... I have to say I have not talked to a single person that lives on Barker's Island -- that is a resident there -- that is not in favor of this total rebuilding of the inn, the condos, etc.," Plan Commissioner James Peterson said.
While residents fought to keep a 38-unit townhouse development from becoming a reality next totheir homes on a 4-acre parcel, residents repeatedly expressed support for the hotel development.
Seth Oliver of Oliver Cos., which owns the hotel, said the plan was two years in the making as company officials watched large conferences and conventions go to Duluth and elsewhere because the existing facility only accommodates about 300 people. The new facility, expected to be complete by the end of 2008, will serve up to1,000 people.
The council considers the Plan Commission's recommendations Nov. 6
