New Country Hearth Inn now open at Chesterfield

The Country Hearth Inn opened April 28 in Chesterfield Village, according to General Manager Bill Adams. Adams said the 52-room inn is an upscale, limited service hotel offering amenities to business and leisure travelers. He said in addition to standard-size king and double-queen rooms, the hotel has a total of 11 suites, including business, leisure and Jacuzzi suites. The facility also has an indoor pool, modem hook-ups and conference tables in the business suites, and a coin-operated guest laundry.

Country Hearth Inn is owned by four partners: Gary Sirna and Steve Danner, both from the Kansas City area, will be the managing partners, and Chesterfield Village developer Larry Lipscomb and local lobbyist Scott Marrs are silent partners. Adams said Chesterfield Village is a good location for the new hotel.

"The demographics worked themselves out that they felt there was a need in this area, and of course, when the I-44 bypass comes around, we'll be a superb location via Branson and Memphis," Adams said.

Scott Marrs said thewill fill a void for the Chesterfield Village area.

"James River, I think, will finally open up in the next year or so, and that juncture, with all the things happening out there, not only retail establishments at Chesterfield but retail across the street, the new Springfield sports center, new soccer fields out there," Marrs said. "We're going to cater to the business clientele; however, certainly in the summer and fall, we welcome visitors coming in for the various tournaments and attractions on the south side of town."

Marrs said the hotel will likely attract a broad range of customers because of its proximity to Cox Medical Centers and First USA.

"I think we've hit it at the right time. I think it will be good for Chesterfield, and then south Springfield. Really in that particular area, southwest, doesn't have anything that close, so we would again anticipate business, families and obviously, visitors to south Springfield," Marrs said.

Keith Acuff is the executive vice president and general manager of Noble & Associates, which is located in Chesterfield Village. He said having a hotel close by is going to benefit Noble & Associates in a couple of ways.

"Not only do we have our main office here in Springfield, in Chesterfield Village, we've also got an office in Chicago with about 40 people, that have a number of people coming down from that office, working with us," Acuff said. "We've got somewhere at least close for them to stay, somewhere where they can literally walk, if they needed to, back and forth here."

Acuff said it also helps the company in terms of its out-of-town clients, because staying in the Country Hearth Inn will cut down on clients' travel time.

"But a lot of times, also, we are providing transportation for (clients) to and from their hotel or wherever, so it makes it a lot easier, them being right here, than us running other places around town to pick them up, transport them around town, etc. It also gives us more time to spend with them," Acuff said.

Acuff said the new hotel fits in with the village concept of the Chesterfield Village development.

"It's not Chesterfield Business Center or Chesterfield Residential Center or Chesterfield Retail Center. It's Chesterfield Village, and as a village, I've got a downtown area with shopping and retail, I've got businesses, I've got homes, I've got a movie theater, so adding lodging to it seems to fit in with the whole concept of building a village as a self-contained unit, if that's what you want to look at as kind of the vision of a village," Acuff said.

Carrie Davison is the general manager of the Palace Theater, which is adjacent to the Country Hearth Inn. She said she thinks the new otel is a great new addition to Chesterfield Village, adding that she believes it will add to the theater's business.

"It gives people the opportunity to stay (in Chesterfield Village) when they're here from out of town, it gives them that option ... there's a couple of restaurants here, and the theater, so it'll be an all-around good situation, I think," Davison said.

Adams said the new hotel is licensed by Country Hearth Inns LLC and managed by Lodgekeepers Group Inc. under a franchise with the Buckhead America Corp.

Kansas City-based Cobalt Construction was the general contractor and Dirk Ellis, also from Kansas City, was the architect for the approximately $3 million project. Adams said the hotel will operate with a staff of 10 to 15. He said the most expensive suites at the hotel will be $99 and standard rooms will start at $60 a night, but prices will be seasonally adjusted to lower rates during the winter months.

Adams said there have already been a couple of family reunions booked at the hotel, and the hotel's national and regional sales directors will be conducting an advertising blitz on the Springfield area later this month.

He added that Country Hearth plans to join the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.