Two New Businesses In Northwood

The city of Northwood will soon have two new businesses, a couple years after a deadly tornado hit the town.

A federal loan was approved this week to build a laundromat and motel.

It may not be much to look at now but in just over three months, the Northwood Inn and laundromat should be up and running.

Dave Korsmo/Project Investor: "We thought putting them both together would probably be the best way to do economically and then achieve the same thing that we wanted and this to get a functioning laundromat and then also a motel."

The project will cost 550,000 dollars, some of that money coming from a USDA rural development loan approved this week and the rest coming from local investors.

Korsmo: "We decided to try to form an investor group and look at putting it up ourselves and that's where we're at today."

Construction on the laundromat and ten room motel began on November 20th and is expected to be completed by April 1st with most of the work being done by local businesses.

Randy Lamarr/Project Manager: "We're trying to use as much small town local North Dakota businesses as possible to generate not only jobs and things like that but revenue."

The Northwood inn is being built on the former site of a trailer court that was destroyed in the 2007 tornado.

Korsmo: "It's the location where there was the one fatality so it's kind of unique that when we come back in with a facility that it's going to be making real good use of this space."

There hasn't been a motel in Northwood for quite some time. Now the Northwood Inn, complete with complimentary breakfast, internet, cable and phone, is already booked up for some of next summers events.

Korsmo: "We have our 125 plus one celebration that's being next July and believe it or not all the rooms are sold out."

The federal loan that was approved this week was for 433,500 dollars.

The remaining 125,000 was paid for by local investors.

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