Dancott – The travel plaza, at least a quarter of a century in the making, is finally taking shape, with developers now having planning approval for a hotel next door.
Cass County Supervisors approved the zoning plan and land development plan associated with the new Ombo Plaza and the proposed hotel on Friday afternoon.
Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) President Frank Zukas provided supervisors with an update on the Travel Plaza and an overview of the zoning and land development plans.
He said Ombo Plaza sits on a 31-acre site, which includes cleared land on the site for future development.
He said a 111-room “extended-stay hotel” would be built on the site. Plans reviewed by the Schuylkill County Planning Commission and approved by the Cass County Planning Commission call for dividing the site into two parcels and constructing a hotel.
The hotel would be a TownePlace by Marriott hotel and would be built on High Ridge Park Road between the Travel Plaza and Keystone Boulevard, according to plans submitted to the county.
A new road will be constructed to connect both properties to High Ridge Park Road.
Both properties are being developed by 611 Land Development, LLC.
The Travel Plaza has been planned since the late 1990s.
It was scheduled to be completed along with the High Ridge Park Road exit off Interstate 81, but was never completed.
A 1997 newspaper article about the closure of the Pine Grove and Mahanoy City rest areas stated that the Travel Plaza “will probably open within the first year or two of the next century.”
According to the article, the travel plaza plan led the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to reject plans for a full development of the Pine Grove rest area. If the Mahanoy City rest area were converted into a rest stop, it would be the only rest area in the 66-mile stretch between Grantville and Drenth.