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CHILOQUIN — Discussed for some time, the dreams of the Klamath Tribes to construct a hotel adjacent to the Kla-Mo-Ya Casino are reaching reality. A groundbreaking ceremony for a new 84-room hotel is tentatively planned for some time in May or June.
A partnership between the Klamath Tribes and Choice Hotel has finalized plans for the construction, to be a Sleep Inn and Suites hotel complete with indoor pool, conference room, workout facility, guest laundry and breakfast space for hotel visitor, according to a tribal publication and officials.
Its location would be directly adjacent to Highway 97 connected to the primary parking lot for the Kla-
Mo-Ya Casino in Chiloquin.
The Choice Hotels partnership is beneficial for several reasons in design, construction and operation. As a Choice Hotel property, approximately 80 percent of the planning comes pre-packaged, providing direct cost-savings of around $500,000 in soft costs of design. Without the Choice Hotel connection, design costs would have had to have come from unrestricted tribal funds starting from the initial concept phase.
Additionally, Choice Hotel incorporates energy and water conservation strategies established in building plan specs assuring high-efficiency standards for the structure, equipment and products used, the publicaton stated.
According to Jared Hall, Klamath Tribes economic development executive director, the conservation strategies built into the design fall in line with tribal environmental values while providing ongoing operational efficiency, short-term and long-term cost-savings and an optimal bottom line business performance.
As the hotel’s construction inches closer to reality, it serves not only as a step forward in amenities available for visitors to Kla-Mo-Ya Casino, but also is a catalyst to phase II of planned expansion of the casino.
According to Hall, the hotel project will create 10-12 immediate jobs and provide 20-25 long-term positions based on customer demand.
ZCS Engineering has handled the initial design plans, with Umpqua Bank providing financing for the project. An official groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility is tentatively planned for an as of yet unannounced date, loosely expected between May 20 and June 30.
Barring any setbacks in construction, the hotel is expected to open in summer of 2018 to maximize summertime tourist traffic passing through the region to visit Crater Lake National Park.
According to Hall, the exact groundbreaking date is variant on several factors both in design and documentation including construction loan documentation and the bank underwriting process. Additional details about the project such as overall economic impact, total cost of project, and timelines for a Phase II development were not available at the time of publishing.
The hotel project received the official go-ahead on Oct. 29, 2016, approved by majority vote at a special general council as requested by the Klamath Tribes Economic Development Corporation (KTEDC).
