Jan. 4, 2023

This paid piece is sponsored by The Ramkota Companies.

Construction has started on a much-awaited addition to the Rapid City hotel market.

Sioux Falls-based The Ramkota Companies broke ground recently on a new ClubHouse Hotel & Suites, bringing a four-story, 90-room hotel scheduled to open in the spring of 2024 to the rapidly growing community.

“We were patient and held off on building even though we would have liked to have started in the spring” of last year, president Josh Schmaltz said. “But we have a fiduciary responsibility to our partners and felt we might encounter more favorable construction prices by waiting, which luckily was the case. Material prices dropped, and we saw an opportunity to move forward.”

The ClubHouse will be The Ramkota Companies’ third property in Rapid City. Its longtime Best Western Ramkota Hotel has served the market since 1999, and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites became part of Ramkota’s portfolio in late 2021.

“It’s great. It’s excellent,” Schmaltz said. “It’s exceeded our expectations in the first year.”

The new ClubHouse is across the street from the Holiday Inn in a vibrant area of the community.

“Monument Health is building a long-term acute care hospital within feet, the VA clinic is next door, and it’s just a booming area all around,” Schmaltz said. “From a tourism standpoint, it’s on the road to Mount Rushmore, and it’s located around multiple employment centers, including Black Hills Energy, Security First Bank and Black Hills Orthopedic.”

Hotel occupancy in the market “is great,” he added. “Between the Air Force base and all the businesses out there, I think Rapid City is in a prime position to explode. They already are. We had considerable interest from investors on this project. It was subscribed very quickly, and there’s a lot of excitement locally for it.”

The hotel will include an attached restaurant from Sioux Falls-based WR Hospitality, which has partnered with Ramkota on hotel-restaurant pairings in multiple locations.

“We’re thinking this will be an American-fare, grill-type, family-friendly restaurant and something that is needed in that part of town,” Schmaltz said.

This will be Ramkota’s fourth ClubHouse hotel, with others in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Fargo.

“ClubHouse hotels are a home away from home – from the decor to the service – and I think that’s what’s helped make them so well-received,” Schmaltz said. “Our team know our guests by name at ClubHouse. We see a lot of repeat guests because they feel welcome, and it’s just such a comfortable place to stay.”

The plan is to begin hiring for the ClubHouse in Rapid City this summer.

Renovations also started in recent weeks at the ClubHouse Hotel in Sioux Falls.

“We’re doing a complete 100-room renovation, roughly 15 rooms at a time,” Schmaltz said. “We started round two between Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s been fun – a complete transformation with carpet, paint, furniture, bathrooms, a total overhaul.”

The rooms are scheduled to be done by April, when work will shift to public spaces, including meeting rooms, corridors, the breakfast area and lobby.

“That will probably take above six weeks, and our plan is to start moving dirt for our new addition there in midsummer or fall of 2023,” Schmaltz said.

From there, construction will take about a year and ultimately add 44 rooms to the popular hotel.