He simply beams when he talks about it: the granite, the Great Room with its double-sided fireplace, the over-sized Presidential Suite, the convention center, flat screen televisions, the swimming pool with its slide, even the paving. Willie Whelchel is excited.

    The former Sturgis police officer and his partner, Lonnie 

Strong, a 1981 Sturgis Brown High School graduate and former owner of Dunn Brothers Coffee in Rapid City, had been trying for the past three years to get a Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites franchise.

    “They finally called me this summer and asked if I was still interested,” Whelchel said. He is the former owner of the Dairy Queens in Spearfish and Sturgis, and currently owns the Mr. Movies store in the first Boulder Canyon Station strip mall.

    The partners are building the 84-room, four-story hotel behind the two strip malls, on the site of the former Canyon Inn Motel, which Whelchel also owned.

    “We operated that for about four years and we put some money into it for renovations,” Whelchel said.

    In a prepared statement, Whelchel said, “We are very excited to have been awarded this high-quality franchise.” The hotel accommodations include 28 suites.

    “We have designed the hotel so there will be many different uses, not only for the travelers and visitors, but also for the local people in the Sturgis area,” Whelchel said.

    Other amenities include several Jacuzzi suites, a game room, physical fitness room, and the hotel will provide a continental breakfast.

    “All the rooms will have flat screen televisions,” Whelchel said.

    The convention center will be about 30 feet from the hotel, and most of that space exists now. Whelchel said they plan to use the two store units on the north end of the second strip mall as the main part of the convention center.

    “We hope to build a state-of-the-art convention center that will seat between 100 and 400 people. It will have several meeting rooms, a full-service kitchen and top-of-the-line equipment to service the needs for training classes, receptions, dances, reunions, meetings and birthday or anniversary parties,” Whelchel said.

    Whelchel is estimating the cost of the project at up to $6 million, and when completed, it will employ between 25 and 50 people.

    “This is real economic development for Sturgis. It’s only going to increase the interest from other developers to come here,” Whelchel said.

    He said they would work closely with the Holiday Inn Express in Deadwood and with other communities to get their guests to various locations.

    “We will be providing transportation from the Rapid City and Spearfish airports, as well,” he said.

    Whelchel expects to open in June of 2008.

Story courtesy of the Meade County Times-Tribune website.