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By Catherine Smith
Deseret Morning News
Logan could be new competition for Salt Lake
City and Park City when vying for conventions.
Wasatch Development Associates unveiled
the new Riverwoods Marriott Hotel and Conference Center Thursday
in Logan. The $60 million project, at 650 S. Main, includes
the hotel, conference center, office space, a fitness center
and a parking structure.
Wasatch Development estimates further additions,
such as condominiums, more retail space, banks and restaurants,
will be completed in about 15 months. The Marriott Hotel
will have 115 rooms, and the conference center will be able
to hold groups from 15 to 700 people.
"We're taking the time to really return
a quality product to the community as a gathering place," said
Dell Loy Hansen, principal of the Wasatch Development Company.
The conference center will be the first
for Logan and will provide a venue for public use. Hansen
said the company felt the city lacked a gathering place for
special events and a venue for businesses to hold conventions.
"We would be prepared to handle some
of the largest conferences," Hansen said. "It will
rival any conference center that's in an urban mix."
The project, which lines the Logan river,
provides beautiful views, walking paths and natural landscaping
for visitors to the hotel and conference center, as well
as the public.
Hansen described the area as what a community
should be — beautiful landscaping with everything a
city needs in one place.
Area renovations included not only building
a hotel but also included clearing the river of wood blockage,
blocking it from flooding, trimming the trees and providing
a walkway.
One office building, the parking structure
and athletic facility with retail spaces have been completed
so far. Construction for the rest of the project will commence
in September with the restaurant planned for completion in
late summer of 2008. The conference center is to be finished
in late fall of 2008 and the hotel finished before Christmas
of that year. Hansen said.
The city expects the new development will
bring in approximately $10 million in business conventions
and other events.
"The Riverwoods development is a great
addition to Logan and will provide significant opportunities
for growth of the local economy," said Randy Watts,
Logan's mayor in a prepared statement.
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