Belfield hotel passes 1st hurdle

Talk about it

Western North Dakota is the place to be, a Minnesotan businessman told the Belfield Planning and Zoning Board on Tuesday during its meeting in City Hall when he pitched the idea to build a 90-room hotel in town.

Brett Erdmann, president and CEO of New Leaf Hospitality, which is based in Big Lake, Minn., said the hotel would be wood-framed and family-style. The concept cleared its first hurdle by gaining a rezoning approval Tuesday.

The 1.92 acres of land on the corner of Highway 85 and Highway 10 was purchased a few months ago from Rod and Mony Wolf by New Leaf Hospitality to build a 63,000-square-foot non-franchise hotel to be named Little Missouri Inn and Suites.

Erdmann is in the process of trademarking the name.

If Belfield City Council approves the rezoning request, Erdmann said there is a possibility the hotel’s groundbreaking could come as early as April. He said a hotel this size usually takes up to a year to build, depending on weather.

Erdmann said he also purchased a piece of land north of Belfield with a long-term plan to build two hotels —the 90-room hotel and an 80-room extended stay residential hotel.

New Leaf Hospitality is building two similar hotels in Watford City, but Erdmann said appraisals aren’t complete.

He said a few restaurants he sold land to in Watford City may also be interested in Belfield if the hotel is built.

“That’s the kind of stuff I think Belfield needs,” he said. “Maybe some other amenities too, like a small grocery store, which would take some momentum getting behind. Maybe a hardware store too that would really compliment the whole development.”

There is a water pressure issue that needs to be worked out.

“I think the engineers can get together and put together a game plan,” Erdmann said. “The best answer I have for now is we’ll figure it out. We just went through something similar in Watford City. We had to annex the property into the city and put in everything. It wasn’t cheap, but this is the place to be, so we’ll figure it out.”

Peggy O’Brien, Zoning Board member, asked if Erdmann has factored in development along Highway 85.

Erdmann said he is working to gain hotel access onto Highway 10 to lessen Highway 85 traffic that would result from development.

Tags: north dakota, new leaf hospitality, city council, little missouri inn and suites, news, belfield, hotel