Hiawatha council approves new hotel feasibility study

A new study will be conducted to assess the feasibility of attracting a hotel or other hospitality property to Hiawatha. The Hiawatha City Council voted unanimously to authorize the study, to be conducted by the Core Distinction Group, an Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based firm specializing in community hospitality feasibility market studies. Hiawatha City Manager Dennis Marks said the city had commissioned a lodging market feasibility study with Core Distinction Group in 2019. That study was completed in 2020. However, based on a recent inquiry, Mr. Marks said he learned such studies typically have a two-year shelf life, based on changing market demands, room rates and construction costs. Data in the study could have been updated within 2 ½ years of its completion, Mr. Marks wrote in a memo to the council. “After that point, a completely new study is needed,” he said. “We are currently at four years post-completion of our study.” Core Distinction Group currently charges $15,000 for hotel feasibility studies, Mr. Marks said, but due to the city’s past relationship with the firm, including a previous three-day site visit to Hiawatha, they agreed to perform the new study for $9,000, the same rate paid by the city for the 2019 study. Mr. Marks said the new Hiawatha market study should be completed within approximately 30 days. There are no current proposals in place to bring a hotel to Hiawatha, Mr. Marks said, but “my conversations, both with a franchise holder and with this company, have indicated that it's very good to have these in place.” “I think there's been an infinite world of change since 2019,” council member Aime Wichtendahl added. “With this environment and the growth of the city. I think it's definitely worth reevaluating. I'm pretty sure we'll get a hotel out of this one way or another.”