Maureen Wallenfang
Appleton Post-Crescent
Published 10:56 AM EDT Mar 10, 2020
A month ago, Jet’s Pizza faced the prospect of an expensive move because its building was on the site of a proposed hotel project in Little Chute.
Now it’s not going anywhere.
Jet’s Pizza will remain at 202 W. Main St. because developers changed the proposed hotel’s footprint.
“We’re planning on staying there, and we signed a five-year lease extension,” said Tim Verstegen, owner of Jet’s Pizza with wife Jill.
Prior stories on the proposed hotel ran in The Post-Crescent in February and can be found at postcrescent.com. At that time, the Village Board approved rezoning five homes adjacent to Jet’s to central business district status.
Since then, Jerry Van Dyn Hoven and his daughter Nikki Lemens, co-owners of the properties and the hotel project, figured out how to leave the small Jet’s building in place.
“What allowed us to do that is turning the hotel,” said Lemens.
The hotel’s longer side previously faced Main Street. Now it faces Monroe Street.
“This allows for more room and a shared parking lot,” she said. “We’re not touching the Jet’s building and we look forward to keeping them as tenants.”
The hotel project still has to go through site plan approval with the village plan commission and board. Van Dyn Hoven and Lemens have not submitted an application for a site plan review to date.
On Facebook, some people posted critical comments about the project because it displaced renters who lived in several houses on the proposed hotel site. Those residents had been on month-to-month rental agreements, Van Dyn Hoven said, and he’d given relocation assistance to renters.
“We did not require February rent so they could have the resources to secure another place,” said Lemens. “They had a 60-day notice. Two who were not able to move in that time were allowed to stay longer.”
Contact reporter Maureen Wallenfang at 920-993-7116 or mwallenfang@postcrescent.com. Follow her on Twitter at @wallenfang.
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