“We know there’s been a lot of public interest in the hotel over time, and incredible support,” Tupper Lake Crossroads LLC member and Wild Center Museum founder Betsy Lowe said. “The main thing is to fill in the public on the status and get their thoughts and reactions.”

The project is planned as a 45-room “classic Tupper” boutique hotel with a bar and restaurant, meeting room, fitness area and other staple amenities on an approximately 1-acre plot of land situated between Park, Mill and Lake Streets.

“It’s taken a while to acquire the properties we needed for the footprint,” Lowe said.

The developing group also conducted a number of market feasibility studies to determine appropriate sizing, acquired the land parcels needed to make the project feasible, developed design, business and investment plans, and obtained the funding necessary to carry out the project.

Corner of Park and Mill streets (state routes 3 and 30) in Tupper Lake (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

“Our idea when we bought it was to save the property from being a used car lot or a parking lot, and that’s pretty much what it’s been for years,” LLC member and former managing partner of the Wawbeek Inn Nancy Howard said. “(Now) we’ve come to a point where we actually have a plan and an offer.”

Lowe said the developers want more public thought put into the project than they have had recently, as they intend the hotel to support the revitalization of the uptown village business district.

“We just think that it would be valuable for Tupper Lake and it would be a great complement to the Wild Center to have more overnight accommodations for large events,” Lowe said. “I’m not a hotel developer, personally, myself, as a profession. It was just something I was interested in doing to help Tupper Lake help the museum and help with downtown revitalization.”

She said the “classic Tupper” style will mean the building will have a vintage look and it will operate as a boutique hotel.

“The motels provide a great option that way, too, but a lot of people stay in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid because we just don’t have enough of that type of hotel room in Tupper Lake,” Lowe said.

At the informational meeting, Lowe and property owner Howard will talk about the project’s finances, the physical space the hotel will sit in and what will happen next.

In December 2016, the Tupper Lake Crossroads Hotel was awarded $2 million during the sixth annual round of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council competition. At the time, the estimated cost of the project was $10.2 million.

The property is the location of past neighboring businesses such as DiStefano’s Liquor Store and the 3&30 Lodge (Bob’s Steakhouse). At the corner of state routes 3 and 30 was the former Sunshine Store, which was razed in December 2003 and the debris removed in June 2004. DiStefano’s was in business until September 2006 and later torn down. And the 3&30 Lodge was destroyed by a fire in 1997.

Howard, Lowe and Jon Kopp bought the 3&30 Lodge lot in 2000 during a land auction.