Apr. 6—EAU CLAIRE — A new 126-suite hotel is planned to rise with the County Materials Complex over the next two years along Menomonie Street.
Eau Claire-based Pablo Group unveiled plans Wednesday for a SpringHill Suites by Marriott the company will build alongside the complex that will host indoor collegiate sports and other large events.
Julia Johnson, partner at the Pablo Group, said the new hotel fits with the company's diverse business ventures, which have included revamping hotels, running restaurants and bars, and turning old buildings into new housing.
"Every project we have taken on is to grow the strength and vitality of our community," she said at a news conference held in the Davies Center on the UW-Eau Claire campus.
Construction of the new hotel is slated to begin this summer and it will open in spring 2024. Next to the hotel, Pablo Group is planning to build a restaurant, but Johnson said that details on exactly what kind of eatery it will be are still being worked out.
Blugold Real Estate, an arm of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation, is developing the County Materials Complex, which will replace Zorn Arena on campus as an indoor sports venue and host numerous events for the university and community. The complex will include the 5,000-seat Sonnentag Event Center for Blugold basketball games and live performances, an enclosed 100-yard turf field, a Mayo Clinic diagnostic imaging and sports medicine center, a fitness center for UW-Eau Claire, university athletics offices and a commons area.
During January 2020, the project's leaders sent a request for information to over 50 hotel developers to see which ones would be interested in building next to the complex.
"We did do a process," said Kimera Way, executive director of the foundation.
At that time, the complex hadn't secured its full funding yet, she noted. Way believes that could've led to the small pool of hotels interested in the project back then.
Pablo Group was among the handful that did respond, Way said, and the Eau Claire company's proposal was the most competitive.
"Pablo's was the most thought-out and aligned with the project, so we went with them," Way said.
The SpringHill Suites concept is seen as efficient and flexible to suit the various types of guests the hotel is expecting, Johnson said.
Rooms that can sleep up to six will be useful for visiting sports groups coming to use the facility, as well as families looking to stay at the hotel, she said. This specific brand also is popular among business travelers, Johnson added.
Benny Anderson, executive director of local convention and visitors bureau Visit Eau Claire, said the location is a good spot to put a hotel.
"It is a project much needed in the area already," he said.
In addition to the new complex that will be built, Anderson said there are other attractions nearby, namely the John & Fay Menard YMCA Tennis Center, Carson Park and Hobbs Ice Center.
The first guests at the hotel are expected to be families of UW-Eau Claire students attending the spring 2024 commencement ceremony — the first major event planned for the Sonnentag Event Center.
A ceremonial groundbreaking for the entire County Materials Complex has been scheduled for April 25, but work at the location is already happening.
Cnstruction equipment will be there this week to begin tearing into large piles of dirt that remained from when most of the land had previously been cleared, Way said.
Pablo and UWEC
This isn't the first time that a major project involving UW-Eau Claire has inspired Pablo Group to make business decisions.
In 2012, plans announced for a new downtown community arts center and mixed use building — then known as the Confluence Project — with the university as a main tenant led Pablo Group to begin investing in downtown, Johnson said. That started with building new offices for Jamf — a growing software company that Pablo Group's partners were early leaders in — and then renovating two defunct downtown hotels.
"We invested in the Lismore and Oxbow hotels when there were no hotels in downtown Eau Claire," Johnson said.
Pablo Group opened The Lismore in spring 2016 and was part of a group of community investors that debuted The Oxbow Hotel later that year.
Pablo Group's philanthropic arm gave $5 million in 2018 toward completion of the arts center, which led to the building being named the Pablo Center at the Confluence.
Since the arts center opened in fall 2018, Johnson said downtown businesses see a noticeable surge in patronage on days when big performances are happening at the Pablo Center.
City Council President Terry Weld thanked the Pablo Group for its investments in the community, including the jobs and economic benefits that it has created in Eau Claire.
He also reiterated the city's support for collaborations between the public and private sectors.
"In order for us to be successful as a community, we rely on these public-private partnerships," Weld said.
The city has an agreement to provide nearly $7.88 million directly to the construction of the Sonnentag Event Center. That contribution is tied to the event center's large seating capacity, making the complex energy efficient, attracting events that appeal to the entire community, guaranteeing some dates for city use and having the facility serve as an emergency shelter during natural disasters.
The city has also planned $4.19 million in infrastructure improvements in the vicinity of the County Materials Complex.
