RESORT TOWN

Elkhart Lake cheers on Osthoff expansion

By Rebecca R. Konya

The Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake is hoping to break ground in May on a 135,000-square-foot addition. The expansion plan has the full support of the Elkhart Lake Village Board.

All eyes might be on the new Blue Harbor Resort in downtown Sheboygan and its June opening, but another prominent resort in the Sheboygan County area is quietly moving ahead with plans for a major expansion.

The Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake will break ground on a 135,000-square-foot addition in May. The expansion project will feature 48 new suites, a conference center, a spa and a restaurant.

"The new north wing will complete the blueprint of the resort," said Lola Roeh, general manager of the Osthoff Resort. "It's always been planned for."

She said the timing of the expansion was driven by guest demand.

"We've been researching this project for four years," Roeh said.

The all-suite resort hotel currently offers 174 units, a restaurant, banquet space, meeting facilities and a host of other amenities like indoor and outdoor pools and a fitness center.

The Elkhart Lake Village Board unanimously approved the expansion project earlier this year. Robert Spindler, village president, said that from a financial aspect, the Osthoff has had a positive impact on the community.

"They've done a wonderful job there," he said. "The addition will only increase tourism and our tax base."

Roeh declined to disclose the cost of the addition, which is being fully funded by the Osthoff Condominium Association.

"It's substantial," she said.

The 48-suite expansion of the Osthoff Resort features a new restaurant as well as a new conference center and spa.

The Osthoff Resort sits on the site of the original Osthoff Hotel, built by German entrepreneur Otto Osthoff in the late 1800s. A group of investors bought the hotel and grounds in 1989 and developed the new Osthoff Resort, selling the units as condominiums. The privately owned units are then rented to guests as hotel suites.

The new suites, with primarily two bedrooms, include separate living rooms with fireplaces. What makes the two-bedroom units especially attractive, said Roeh, is the ability to convert them into two one-bedroom suites.

A new conference center planned for the north wing will double the resort's current meeting space. But it's the new full-service spa that Roeh anticipates will increase guest reservations during the low season.

"Right now we offer limited spa services," said Roeh. "With the new spa, we expect our bookings for leisure weekends to increase."

The Milwaukee office of Kahler Slater Architects Inc. designed the new addition to blend seamlessly with the resort's existing architecture.

"It will be consistent with the current architecture with a few added elements to give it visual interest," said Roeh.