The company with the hotel will formally sign a lease with the City of Casper next week to finish the paperwork for the conference center to be built on the Platte River Commons, City Manager John Patterson said Friday.

"We hope to break ground in the spring, we're still on track for that," Patterson said.

"We'll get confirmation next week that the hotelier has signed a contract with a 'flag' -- a name brand hotel," he said. "I understand he has signed a check and done that."

Casper City Council will need to approve the agreement between the city and the hotelier.

A general contractor for the project has not been selected.

The hotel would anchor the proposed conference center will meet with city officials next week to sign the lease agreement between the hotelier and the city.

The board has been waiting for a final report since October.

Much of the major contractual work is done.

In June, Casper City Council approved a pass-through lease of agreement of 17 acres of the former refinery property, now known as the Platte River Commons, for a conference center. The city will spend almost $5.1 million to lease the land, and then sublease the same property to a private developer.
Public funds will be used for the infrastructure and the conference center. The hotel itself is a private development, but critical to the project.
The hotel will have about 220 rooms and the entire complex will occupy 17 acres of the Platte River Commons along the river.
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The ARAJPB was created in 1998 when Amoco — now BP — signed an agreement with the city of Casper and Natrona County to oversee the development of the property. The Casper City Council and the Natrona County Commission appoint the board members.

BP pledged more than $25 million toward the goal of replacing the number of jobs lost when the refinery shut down in 1991. The board receives no money from the city or the county.

The Platte River Commons is the home to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission building, the Casper Area Innovation Center, the Platte River Business Plaza, the Three Crowns Golf Course, and the new Wyoming Otolaryngology Clinic.

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