Tertium Development, the likely buyer of Hotel Northland in Green Bay, says the deal will be finalized within a couple weeks. They plan to make the hotel a community hub, while maintaining its historic details. The Green Bay Cit y Council approved a deal for Hotel Northland, relieving the current owners of $2.6 million in debt in exchange for $1 million of the sale proceeds. City Council president, Alyssa Proffitt says without this deal, the City would have likely gotten nothing back from the hotel. Tertium Development is a developer based in Iowa. They focus on hotel development in the Midwest.Hotel Northland was built in 1924, and, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, was "one of the largest and most important buildings constructed in Green Bay."The hotel famously held some of Packers head coach, Vince Lombardi's, first press conferences.After several decades, the hotel closed, reopening as low-income apartments before sitting vacant for many years."Until about 11 years ago when that current administration felt strongly that it should be restored to its glory," Proffitt says. "Through lots and lots and lots of different funding sources and years and time and effort, it has been restored."A $4.7 million loan helped fund the restoration, according to Proffitt. The money is structured from federal dollars, but backed by local community development funding.Proffitt says it was an unusual way to fund the project."Would not like to see a fund source set up like that for a current agreement," she says. "It was the cards that we were dealt."Now, the current owners still owe the City $2.6 million on the original $4.7 million loan."Of that $2.6 million, the City is on the hook for it, no matter what happens with the sale of this property," Proffitt says. "If the sale did not go through, it's likely that there would have potentially been a foreclosure or something else that would have happened to the hotel, and it would have been very unlikely for us to secure any kind of funding back."This week, the City Council approved a deal that ensures the City gets $1 million of the sale proceeds.With about $500,000 sitting in a payment fund from the current owners, the city is out about $1.1 million from the deal.The sale itself isn't final, but the likely buyer is Tertium Development, a real estate development firm out of Iowa."We're heavily focused on the Midwest," Tertium co-founder, Blake Malecha, says. "Towns like this where we can find what we believe are iconic assets that need a little bit of tender, love and care to try and turn them around."Malecha says City Council approving the deal this week was the last hurdle before finalizing the deal. He says it will be completed within a couple weeks.Malecha says they've restored historic hotels in other parts of the Midwest, creating them into community event spaces."To some extent it feels like we're giving the community something that's great to be a part of," he says.Malecha says they will keep the same name and the hotel will remain under the Mariott Autograph brand.They'll clean up the exterior, but Malecha says they'll try to maintain the historic elements."We're not coming in and changing anything drastically- we'll touch up the signs and things like that to make it feel more vibrant and new, but at the same time everything is going to look on the outside very similar to what it would have looked like historically," he says.He says they'll pave the parking lot, which is currently gravel, and turn it into an outdoor gathering space for live music or tailgating events.Malecha says they will also update the lobby and restaurants. He says they'll open a lot of the space to the public, including the basement bowling alley and bar on special weekends."We take pride in making sure it looks the way it should and ultimately operates as a sort of community center," he says.Glas Coffee House is across the street from the hotel."We get their residual business because we're right across the street from them for when their guests want good coffee," Candy Turk, a barista at Glas, says.Turk, who's originally from Green Bay, says she is excited for the hotel's new era."I'm excited for Downtown Green Bay, we kind of need that," she says. "It's a great location. I wish them the best of luck for the next 102 years." ...read more read less