ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – A once-blighted property in Downtown Escanaba is on its way to becoming a four-story hotel.
Monday afternoon, the owners of Gladstone’s Terrace Bay Hotel broke ground on the site of the former county jail on North 3rd Street. In its place, they are constructing a 54,221-square-foot Hampton Inn by Hilton. The hotel will feature 93 rooms, a swimming pool, and an outdoor patio overlooking the bay.
“The City and the County worked together years ago to combine this property and put it up for a developer to build something that would really add value to the community,” said Terrace Bay Hotel co-owner Rick Elrod. “We’re really excited to work with U.P. State Bank to finance this project. It’s obvious that they are excited about investing in a project that not just financially makes sense, but from a social-economic standpoint makes a lot of sense as well.”
The project is a $15.5 million development on Escanaba’s waterfront. The Terrace Bay team anticipates an annual payroll of $1.2 million. The hotel is projected to draw 46,000 visitors to the downtown each year.
“Escanaba has one of the longest downtowns in the Upper Peninsula, and it’s great to see new things happening,” Elrod said. “This project will really help to spur some development down at this end of town—right near the park, right near the lighthouse—where visitors are already coming down to visit some of our local attractions. It’ll just give people another reason to kind of come down this way and spend some time down here.”
The hotel is expected to open in the spring of 2028.
