Construction could start later this year on a new, high-end hotel and convention center in downtown Muscatine. Today members of the Mercer-Muscatine County Revolving Loan Fund approved some help for the 41 million dollar project - the Stanley Hotel and Convention Center.
Loan Fund Administrator, Donna Moritz, says local banks and investors will put up most of the money for the 6-story hotel, on Mississippi Avenue, between Sycamore Street and Iowa Avenue. The loan fund will contribute 358,000 dollars.
The project is being led by Jim Howe of the Howe Investment Fund, in Muscatine.
Moritz says the 112 room hotel would also have a restaurant, spa, pool, parking garage, and more than 11,000 square feet of meeting space.
If construction starts this fall, it could open in two years, with about 50 employees.