America’s largest agritourism destination, Fair Oaks Farms, has recently broken ground on a $15 million barn-shaped hotel development with 99 rooms.
The Fairfield Inn & Suites will feature a total of 31 suites, including eight silo suites with 505 sq. ft. each. The new hotel will be connected to a 17,000 sq. ft. farm-to-table restaurant and a conference center by a 100 ft. long walkway. Amenities will include the following: a swimming pool, gym, spa, bridal party rooms, makeup stations, and a 21,000 sq. ft outdoor patio furnished with fireplaces.
Slated for completion by early 2019, the project’s civil engineering will be handled by Crown Point-based firm DVG. CORE Construction’s Schererville office will build the hotel while Valparaiso-based Good Hospitality Services will take over its management.
“Fair Oaks Farms has worked closely with Marriott, the best hotelier brand and reservation system in the world, to make our Fairfield Inn & Suites at Fair Oaks Farm a very special hotel,” said Michael McCall, chief strategy officer of Fair Oaks Farms.
McCall described the building as an “architecturally… one-of-a-kind red barn… significantly beyond the prototypical hotel, with larger and better appointed public spaces.” He also said that it will provide guests with an experience of a full-service hotel for a moderate price.
Founded by Mike and Sue McCloskey, the farm seeks to educate the urbanized public about farming through informative presentations such as live cow births. Visitors also get the opportunity to see how modern farms operate up close.
With new attractions, including the farm-to-table Farmhouse Restaurant, the Pork Education Center, the Crop Education center, a feed barn, and the hotel that is currently being constructed, Fair Oaks Farms is expected to attract 2 million visitors in a year, said its chief operating officer Julie Biasch.
