The Wolf Furniture Galleries store at 3821 10th St. is no more. Nelson Stone demolished the structure this week to make room for a new Holiday Inn Express motel to be built on the site.
The motel is being developed by Kansas City, Mo.-based Noble Hospitality Inc.
“This will affect the center of gravity in Great Bend,” said Colin Noble, founder of Noble Hospitality. “We are looking forward to getting into Great Bend.”
The lot will also be home to an as yet undetermined new restaurant. “It’s obvious that the site is in a prime location and there is adequate space to include a restaurant, and should that happen it will be a plus for everybody,” Noble said.
They hope to start building this 80-room hotel-and-suites by year’s end, and it will take approximately 10 months to complete, Noble said. As they get closer to opening, they will be looking for staff,  and when they’re in full swing the hotel will have a labor force of around 25.  
 “Obviously we are very excited about this new project,” Noble said.  “It will be one of the first of the new Holiday Inn Express prototypes, which is very modern and incorporates many new ideas that they have been working on for some time.”
There are several new concepts being incorporated into the facility.  For example, about 50 percent of the rooms will feature modern showers, with the others featuring standard tub showers.
The lobby will also be different. “Gone are the days of a reception desk, as it has been replaced with stand-alone pods,” he said.
In addition, “the new color schemes are brighter and more inviting, and all in all it is a sizable improvement on the tried-and-trusted Holiday Inn Express formula,” Noble said.  
The company has properties in Manhattan and in New Mexico. They had been driving through Great Bend for years.
“We have been looking at the possibility of building a Holiday Inn in Great Bend for some time and it all came to a head whenever we finally identified the perfect spot in the prime location,” Noble said of the two-acre tract.  “Jan Peters from the (Great Bend) Chamber of Commerce has been a great help and a wealth of information, as has Roger Sell of Coldwell Banker.”
Noble Hospitality was created in the United States in 1991 and has managed more than 60 hotels throughout 15 U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Comprised of hoteliers from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, Noble Hospitality’s senior management team has been the driving force of the company’s success, which includes numerous awards for operations, marketing, design and renovation services.
President and CEO of Noble Hospitality, Noble brings more than 40 years of hotel experience to the table. Originally from Ireland, Noble came to the United States in 1991 to create the company.