ATASCADERO, Calif- There's one central coast city that's already rebounding from the bad economy. Atascadero has several projects in the works and now a new hotel to add to the list. The proposed hotel will be right off the 101 next to vineyards and next to a small shopping center that's also expected to grow.
It's a new development, but it's a decade old plan. The first phase has 5 retail stores but there is still room for more. Across the street from the retail shops, phase two, the city looks forward to a four story 133-room hotel. "We'll have an increase in property taxes and of course there will be people coming to our town that will be spending more money within our town so it will bleed down into the other businesses," says Mayor Bob Kelley.
Mattress Land opened across the street from the proposed site in February. Lonny Winter, an associate, says the reason the company chose Atascadero was because of the growth in the area. He says they welcomes any new developers. "Anything that brings more visibility to this area, its kind of the quiet end of town right now, so more places that go over there hotels, restaurants, anything to bring more attention to the area."
A new walmart was just approved, which will be the next door neighbor to a shopping center. Businesses we talked to in June were excited for the increase in foot traffic it would bring.
It's not just new retail developments that are helping Atascadero thrive. "We also have over 2-hundred applications in our building department for residences in town, I think in these current economic times Atascadero is doing very well," says Mayor Kelly.
The city will meet with the developers Tuesday to discuss proposed payments to the city over a 5 year period. The city estimates the hotel will bring in around 730-thousand in additional revenue a year. On top of that, the city estimates 50-100 construction jobs to be added, as well as two dozen permanent jobs once the hotel is built.
