A new hotel in St. Marys held its grand opening this afternoon.

Developers say they took advantage of a state RACP grant that had been allocated to the property, but that was just a $3 million part of the overall $9.5 million project.

Creekside Hospitality managing member Todd Hanes says 8 investors took part in getting the three-story hotel open for business at Depot and 4th Streets downtown.

Hanes says while this afternoon was their ribbon-cutting ceremony, they actually opened on Apr. 1 to guests and have 69 rooms with a total of 21 employees at the Cobblestone Inn and Suites.

“Because of the flood plain area here, we had some obstacles to overcome to be able to locate the building here, but through political channels and that, we got all of the permits necessary,” says Hanes.

There’s a conference room that can be sub-divided. He says one issue they faced is being in a flood plain and they had to fill in the ground underneath.

Years ago, Hanes used to own the Station Inn in that same area, but it was badly damaged in a fire in 2007. He’s glad to finally get the new business open and be a part of the community..

“We think it’s a big asset to the community and cleaning up the area down here, and also it’s nice to be in a downtown location, because our guests have shops that they can walk to and restaurants and attractions and Straub Brewery,” says Hanes.

A manager with Wisconsin-based Cobblestone said Pennsylvania is not an area they initially were focused on, but one of their employees took it on and so far this is their ninth hotel in the state.