I followed up with our hospitality consultant who is doin gour 3rd party analysis and then finalizing our business pla. Craig Showalter with Business Plans Etc. in Washburn WI, said that the hotels that are still doing well are the properties that provide an experience and not just a pretty room. Craig added that people are still spending money but they might spend $5,000 for a week scuba diving and then save money shopping at Walmart. The Green Leaf Inn project is probably up in value due to the fact of our unique experience our model represents. That was great to hear since the overall economy is not in great shape. Now we just have to get our budgets in line. What are you looking for when you choose a travel destination?
It has been awhile since I last blogged. Hard to keep up when we have been doing our normal energy business that pays the bills while the zoning and permitting for the Green Leaf Inn has been going on. But we now getting to real decisions for designers, pricing, products and making deals.
If you have ever been in a maze with high walls and being billed by the minute until you wind your way through to the exit- you will then know what it is like to get zoning and initial permits in place.
First we went to the Town PLanning commission first who approved zoning change request and they make a recommendation to the full Town commission. We were approved at both but then we had to go back for the conditional use permit (CUP) to be allowed to have a hotel and for the wind turbine, solar, geothermal heat pump, gift shop, banquet area for a tent, building heights, set backs, etc. The Planning commission unanimously approved the CUP and now June 13th we are at the Town full commission. If that goes well it is off to the Walworth County equivalent of the planning commission or land use and then a full hearing of the couinty’s full commission. Sometimes I think the attorneys and governments planned out the whole thing. The process seems to take longer then I had expected and costs a lot more to just get there.
I am constantly reminded by my partner and wife Catherine that the experience people have staying at the inn will determine our long term success. And being as consistent in our messages and actions we take regarding the environment. We will be providing boat tours on our pntoon boat (no doubt including wine and appetizers) which has a 4 stroke engine. Since we already are planning a propane fueled lawnmower and weed whacker (Catherine is looking at a Ford truck that runs on propane) there must be a way to convert the gas engine to propane. That would be environmentally much less polluting and remove the few drops of gasonline that you often see riding on the surface near the docks on lakes. Now the big question is does any one know someone that can do that?
We attended the MREA Fair again this year. With the planning of the Inn it was even more valuable. It is great to see and visit with al the people interested in renewable energy and sustainable building and gardening. Their website is www.mrea.org for info on classes and other resources. And it was a good excuse to go and stay at a B&B for a little research.
The realtor came out (Raudland Agency) and Shari suggested if we were looking to sell that we should consider changing the zoning to commercial because that zoning is worth more and could appeal to someone for an office, healthcare offices or B&B.
That was interesting and since we were contemplating selling, it would be good to see the valuation for comparison. Catherine and I talked briefly about the B&B idea. We actually had 4 books on doing a B&B on our bookshelves (I wish I had time to read all the books on the shelves) and as I was driving to work for the next couple of weeks, I kept seeing NO VACANCY at a small inn on Route 50 every day. It is summer in Lake Geneva so that is not suprising. I had never paid attention to occupancy at the local Inns before, but it was like all of a sudden I was noticing it all over. I went on line and looked at room rates and started playing with the numbers of doing a B&B/Inn on our property.
We have an 84 acre farm behind our property. Water runoff from the farmland enters our property in the north and traverses to the south and ultimately all the way down to a creek that feeds into Delavan Lake.
When we did the engineering for our storm water treatment pond, we originally only looked at the immediate treatment of our own stormwater. But in reality we will be treating all the farm fertilizer runoff to keep it from going into the lake and causing algae growth.
I should have paid more attention in geology class back in college. The stuff we have had to learn about the impact of soil type, water etc is amazing.
We had never really planned on the GreenLeaf Inn project.
We had toyed with the idea of a B&B but never were too serious until Catherine came home from a town planning commission council meeting pretty upset. A member of the planning commmission told her that Route 50 was going to go all commercial. That was not great news to our ears since we had been killing ourselves on rehabbing and gardening our 5 acre site and we knew that we would not get full residential value for the home in an all-commercial area.
So later that week we called a realtor to get their feedback on the current value and potential value if the land was commercial. And the concept of the B&B was born. But why just do ANY B&B…
