Lenape Heights Golf Course in Manor to add upscale hotel
The view around a local golf course's green vista soon will include a new element: a four-level, 20-suite hotel on the grounds.
Herkules Golf and Entertainment is constructing what they are calling an upscale hotel at its 18-hole Lenape Heights Golf Course.
The golf course was purchased two years ago by Albert Plekker, Sam Kube and Christof Thoma, owners of KPM Herkules, a Ford City- headquartered manufacturer of roll shop machinery and equipment for a worldwide market.
Owners, employees, elected state, county and township officials and golfers attended the announcement of the hotel on Friday during KPM Herkules' annual customer golf outing. Officials traveled from as far as Germany for the event.
The hotel will be built in front of the clubhouse and restaurant building hanging on the side of a hill above the course overlooking several holes.
It is in addition to improvements to the golf course and the clubhouse and dining area already made by the owners.
Company personnel took turns on a backhoe lifting some dirt at the site, however, Kube said the official groundbreaking will take place in the spring.
The hotel is expected to be built by the end of next year, officials said.
No contractor has been selected for the project. The company has no estimate of its cost or the number of square feet.
The hotel will be independent and not affiliated with a name hotel chain.
Officials said the bottom level of the hotel will consist of a members club; the second floor will have a high-end restaurant and bar and the upper two levels will be suites.
"We thought we should try to help develop the local community as much as our business and help the local economy," Kube said.
"There's going to be a view of nine holes," he said.
KPM Hercules vice president of sales Bruce Baldwin said the course is the nearest to being in pristine condition that he's seen. The hotel is the next step, he said.
"We're trying to turn this into a golf destination," said Baldwin. "It doesn't get much prettier than this."
State Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Ford City, believes the improvements will make the county a magnet for golfers.
"The Armstrong County Tourism Bureau is very excited about the potential," Pyle said.
Commissioner Patty Kirkpatrick called it "a one-stop recreational facility that is the first of its kind in the county."
"This will be an asset for the residents of this county, as well as bringing people here," Kirkpatrick said.
