Chicago & Midwest + Midwest + Hospitality | January 9, 2019

Ashtabula Tourism Growth Sparks “Destination Hotel” Project

The City Council of Ashtabula, OH has approved a 10-year, 75% tax abatement for the development of the city’s first hotel in almost 99 years. The 25,000-square-foot, all-suite River Bend Hotel will be located near the main shopping and dining district of historic Bridge Street, overlooking the Ashtabula Lift Bridge and Lake Erie.

The approval followed an independent study showing that Ashtabula was a growing tourist attraction, thanks to its wineries, lake recreation and covered bridges. However, 67% of those polled in the study cited a lack of attractive lodging options.

“Our plan is to develop a new property that will accommodate and round-out the needs of tourists to Ashtabula,” said Todd Canter, project manager and co-owner of the hotel. “Our vision is a regionally-unique destination hotel that blends beautifully into the fabric of the neighborhood and provides a stepping-off point to recreation, covered bridge tours and winery expeditions.”

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Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).