Renovation Of Hotel Retlaw Nearing Start

The owners of the Hotel Retlaw in downtown Fond du Lac say all pre-construction work is nearly complete and the first hammer should swing sometime in mid-to-late August. Dennis Doucette and Steven Frantz are partners in the $25 million renovation of the historical hotel. They will be offering what they term “affordable luxury.” The hotel is also expected to raise the downtown’s profile. Doucette says the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts is attracting major attention, but even their guests are more inclined to stay out of town. He says even though Fond du Lac has enjoyed good growth over the last two years they are not realizing maximum dollars because some of these people are not staying overnight in Fond du Lac. Doucette and Frantz have experience reopening historic hotels. Frantz says it does have an impact on the downtown and community. He says they are hoping to bring in another 40,000 visitors to downtown Fond du Lac, which will benefit downtown vendors and the hotel’s downtown business partners tremendously. Doucette says they will have a very vibrant membership with the community and will bring a social environment to downtown Fond du Lac. They hope to open the hotel at the end of next May or in early June.