State offers 2 proposals to build inn at Potato Creek park

NORTH LIBERTY, Ind. (AP) – Gov. Mike Pence’s proposal to build Indiana’s first new inn at a state park in more than seven decades would bring lodging to one of the state’s most popular and moneymaking parks.

The proposed $24 million project would bring lodging to Potato Creek State Park.

The park ranked third as a moneymaker among Indiana’s 24 state parks last year, following Brown County and Indiana Dunes state parks.

Naturalist Tim Cordell tells the South Bend Tribune that Potato Creek brought in 10 percent of the total revenue of all state parks last year.

The Bicentennial Inn would be the first new lodge at a state park since 1939 and the only one besides the Pokagon State Park inn near Angola to serve northern Indiana’s large population base.