A 3.6-acre site at the northeast corner of 91st Avenue and Prairie Ridge Boulevard in Pleasant Prairie would someday be home to a Fred Astaire Dance Studio and an 86-room hotel under a project plan that cleared an initial municipal review this week.
Granted a certified survey map following a public hearing before the Pleasant Prairie Plan Commission, the project calls for Bear Development to construct a 5,000-square-foot dance studio on 1.3-acre parcel directly south of the existing Sherwin Williams store along 91
st Street, and for a four-story, 63,868-square-foot hotel to be built on a 2.3-acre parcel directly at the corner, just south of the dance studio.
Speaking on Wednesday, S.R. Mills, CEO of Bear Development, said the company has owned the 3.6-acre site for about seven or eight years. The plan is to build to the dance studio for the Fred Astaire Dance Studio and sell the hotel property to a separate developer once the municipal approval process is complete. Mills could not recall the name of the hotel developer on Wednesday, stating that he was not handling the project directly.
According to a Pleasant Prairie press release, the hotel will share main entrances with the dance studio to the north and the Care Animal Hospital to the east, while also constructing an alternative, full-access driveway off 91st Avenue. The hotel will provide 87 on-site parking spaces, including four handicapped accessible parking spaces, and maintain over 38 percent of open green space, the release adds.
"The proposed plan to develop the vacant property in Prairie Ridge will provide quality hotel rooms for travelers and give local dance enthusiasts a place to socialize, learn, and practice,” said Jean Werbie-Harris, Pleasant Prairie’s director of community development, in the press release “This significant investment in the area will bring new jobs to the region and be a welcomed addition to the Pleasant Prairie businesses community.”
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A site plan show the proposed layout of separate hotel and dance studio developments at the corner of 91st Street and Prairie Ridge Boulevard in Pleasant Prairie. (submitted)[/caption]