Dollar General Store, Hampton Inn get planning OK for building in Vincennes

Yochum purchased the tract of land along with the ground on which he is currently building last year. He recently sold the left-over portion to a three-man development group that calls itself Vincennes Hotel Developers.

The group -- represented by hotel manager Jim Dora Jr of Indianapolis and the builder, Ohio-based Bryan Kelly -- needed a conditional use permit for the project. The area is already zoned commercial, but the construction of any hotel requires such a permit.

Dora said the near 80-room hotel will likely take about a year to build.

"We think this market needs another quality-brand hotel," Dora said after the meeting. "You've already got two good quality brands here, and we think a Hampton will be a nice complement.

"We think it will fit in well."

Marc McNeece, president of the Knox County Chamber of Commerce and member of the city's Redevelopment Commission, the group that built Ford Road in 2010 and the Dixie Orchard Drive only months ago, went to show his support for the construction of the hotel.

"It's a thrill to see more development finally taking place there," he said. "It's a good thing for the community and a good thing for that area."

And Derrick Goldman with Foster Builders Inc. of Sullivan also asked BZA members for permission to build a slightly smaller-than-normal parking lot for a new Dollar General Store, to be located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Willow and 15th streets.

County zoning laws require the 9,000-square-foot commercial structure to have at least 37 parking spaces, but Goldman said there simply isn't room.

The BZA granted his request to build a 28-spot lot instead.