Photo by Deb Gau On Tuesday night, Marshall City Council member Craig Schafer joined the discussion of a hotel and event center proposed near the Red Baron Arena

MARSHALL — A proposal for an event center and hotel near the Red Baron Arena and Expo is starting to come into focus. While the full details aren’t yet ready, members of the Marshall City Council were able to see two different possible site plans during a work session Tuesday.

David-Elias Rachie, of Gatehouse Capital, said developers were looking for the council’s feedback, especially on one aspect of the proposal. The question was whether to plan for construction on city property only, or for a design that would require buying adjacent land.

The presentation Tuesday night was meant to be one of several updates for the council, while Gatehouse Capital works on detailed finance and building proposals, said Marshall EDA Director Cal Brink. Gatehouse is proposing to build a hotel and a 16,000 square foot conference center near the arena.

“We challenged them with a couple different options,” Brink said. One option would be to design the facilities to stay on city-owned land near the arena. The other design would use both city property and land bought from a private owner nearby. That land was part of earlier plans for hotel development by the Red Baron Arena, which didn’t to fruition.

Brink said a third challenge put to developers was to look at expanded parking for the arena.

“There are some parking issues,” Brink said.

The hotel and event center project would be built with the help of a loan from the city, Gatehouse representatives told the council in December. Funding for pre-construction planning, which has a cost of $130,000, is coming from the EDA.

Rachie said planning work officially began the second weekend in January. Gatehouse Capital has chosen architects DLR Group and general contractor Dean Snyder Construction, of Clear Lake, Iowa, for the project.

Rachie said the event center, and a 101-room Marriott Courtyard hotel with indoor pool, could be built on current city property by the arena.

“You can see we’re still a little bit short on parking,” Rachie said of the proposed site plan.

By purchasing adjacent land, Gatehouse could build the same-sized hotel and event center, and have space for more parking, and an area that could be sold for construction of a restaurant.

“This is essentially kind of the original vision of where a hotel and event center should go,” Rachie said.

“We’re looking for direction from the council on what you like better,” Rachie said, although planning will continue for both proposals.

Council feedback leaned more toward the proposal that would involve buying additional land. However, council members did have questions about how that could affect the city.

“Who’s supposed to be buying the property?” asked council member James Lozinski.

Rachie said either the city or the developers could buy the additional land. Lozinski replied that it should be the private entity that should purchase the land. He also thought the hotel should be kept separate from the event center, which the city would own.

“It should be a standalone business,” Lozinski said.

Rachie said developers will continue to work on more detailed plans and pricing for both options. The council will get another update on the proposals in April.