GLADSTONE, Mich. (WJMN) – The Terrace Bay Hotel in Gladstone, Mi, is beginning their expansion to their hotel, operation, and plan for the future.
“It’s a Lake Michigan front full service hotel.” Said Jarred Drown, the owner of the Terrace Bay Hotel. “We do events, and weddings in our banquet space. It’s a waterfront space. There’s also a nice gazebo where the brides and grooms will get married right in front of the lake. We got a waterfront restaurant called the Fresh Water Tavern. We started that concept seven years ago when we bought the place, and now it’s one of the more popular restaurants in town. Also, we have a coffee shop. and it’s more than just the standard hotel throw away coffee shop. It’s a full drive through, full service, Big B coffee shop, and kind of “the” coffee shop in Gladstone. Other aspects of the business, obviously the hotel rooms, the main driver of the whole business and a lot of the other ancillary parts of the business support that and support the rooms. We’re adding 56 hotel rooms. We currently have 61, so that will bring the total to 117. 48 of the new rooms are going to be right on the lake. We currently have 30 lakefront rooms. This significantly increases our lakefront rooms. Tourism in the up has been awesome. Picture Rocks tourism exploded over the past few years and really just tourism to the whole U.P. so the demand in the summer doesn’t seem to be slowing down. We decided that with the Billerud expansion happening soon, it seemed like a good time to grow our business. This room construction that we’re doing, the addition is kind of just the beginning of creating a resort atmosphere and feel. When I think of Lake Michigan resorts, I think like the Blue Harbor down in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, or the inn at Bay Harbor in Petoskey, and we see ourselves kind of moving towards that direction. It takes a lot of time and a lot of reinvestment into the property. It’s not going to happen overnight. But over the next decade, we see ourselves becoming really a full resort, high end luxury destination type place. So we’re going to keep working towards that until we get there. We’re really excited to grow our business. The U.P. is on the rise. Escanaba is on the rise, and I feel like it’s a great time to grow your business or start a business in this area. We’re pumped to be a part of it.”