The Fond du Lac County Board has approved an economic incentive package to help with the downtown Fond du lac Retlaw Hotel renovation project. County executive Al Buechel says the package includes a $1.1 million performance based loan and appropriating more than a half million dollars in sales tax revenue. “All of this has to be loans through the Fond du lac County Economic Development Corporation and we have to appropriate the additional $550,000 to the Economic Development Corporation so they can make the loan when the hotel opens,” Buechel told WFDL news. Buechel says he thinks an economic incentive such as a low interest loan is appropriate given the hotel’s impact to the downtown. The hotel was purchased last summer in an online auction. Hotel manager and owner Dennis Ducette says construction on the nearly $24 million project is expected to get underway this spring with plans to open the renovated hotel this fall.
