Boulders Inn & Suites planned for Monticello

Boulders Inn & Suites plans to start construction this fall on a 32-room hotel in Monticello - the town's first since the Blue Inn was transformed into apartments.

The hotel is expected to open in the spring or early summer next summer, and is to be built just west of Kirkwood Community College's Jones County Regional Center.

'More than once a month we'll get a call or email asking for the number for the local hotel,” said Monticello City Administrator Doug Herman, who added there is a need for people visiting for business as well as special events such as car shows, weddings, class reunions and the Great Jones County Fair.

The city expects the hotel to generate about $25,000 in tax revenue the first couple years.

Herman said Boulders Inn & Suites' locations are well kept and the Monticello location will include an exercise room, hot breakfasts and high ceilings in the rooms.

'This isn't going to be a cheaply built hotel,” Herman said.

While the city will not own any part of the hotel, Herman said it did operate as a point of contact between Boulders Inn & Suites and local investors.

The city also paid Iowa State University to do a feasibility study on bringing a hotel to town.

'And the study basically came back saying ‘What are you waiting for?'” said Monticello City Council Member Tom Yeoman, who also is an investor in the project.

Herman said a restaurant and retail also might locate near the hotel.

Investors looked at a number of locations, Herman said, but decided on a site near the highway in order to attract motorists.

'It just seemed to make the most sense to the investors,” Herman said.

Yeoman said he was impressed with the service of Boulders Inn & Suites and is confident the hotel will succeed in Monticello.

'They do a lot of little things right,” Yeoman said. 'That's exactly what we need here.”