Local investors and stakeholders, elected officials, company heads and community members gathered at 1306 Main St. in Torrington on Monday morning for Cobblestone Hotels & Suites’ official groundbreaking ceremony.
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TORRINGTON – Local investors and stakeholders, elected officials, company heads and community members gathered at 1306 Main St. in Torrington on Monday morning for Cobblestone Hotels & Suites’ official groundbreaking ceremony.
Several dignitaries spoke at the event, including Tim Shefchik, vice president of development at BriMark Builders, LLC; Points West Community Bank Regional President Cactus Covello; Goshen County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director and CEO Ashley Harpstreith; city Mayor Mike Varney; and Cobblestone Hotels President and CEO Brian Wogernese.
“This project, more than anything I’ve been involved in, embodies a community project,” Shefchik said, adding he typically presents a ceremonial shovel to the “first champion” of a new development. In the case of Torrington’s Cobblestone Hotels & Suites, Shefchik gave the shovel to Deidre Newman, wife of the late Neil Newman.
“This project wouldn’t have started, and we wouldn’t be here today (without Neil),” he said.
Newman passed away in May as a result of a car accident.
Covello and Harpstreith also highlighted Newman’s efforts to bring Cobblestone to the area, in addition to the groundwork completed by GCEDC, including the use of New Markets Tax Credits, a financing tool now available in Wyoming through regional non-profit financing company MoFi
“The help from the New Markets Tax Credit Program, facilitated by MoFi, provided the critical missing piece in our financing stack, which allowed us to move the project forward,” Covello said in a joint press release from Cobblestone and MoFi. “We fully expect other things to spring up around it in the corridor south of the railroad tracks. It’s the perfect place for a convenience store, and we imagine it will revitalize restaurants in the area as well.”
“We know that tourism is the second-largest industry in Wyoming, but Goshen County hasn’t fully capitalized on its potential economic impacts,” Harpstreith explained. “We knew we were missing out and adding more hotel rooms was a piece of that puzzle.”
The three-story, 54-room structure will be worth an estimated $5.8 million, and bring 10-plus new jobs to the area, with an economic impact of $435,000 in tax revenues for the state and $315,000 for the city during a five-year period.
“This is a tremendous advantage for Torrington to have this hotel,” Varney said. “We’re appreciative of the investors and Cobblestone.”
As Cobblestone’s Wogernese closed the ceremony, he indicated the hotel chain has fond feelings for Goshen County, in return.
“If it wasn’t for the local community … this project wouldn’t be here,” he said. “It takes all of you.”
Cobblestone Hotels & Suites’ Torrington branch is expected open for business in 2019.
