DENHAM SPRINGS — Denham Springs is looking to develop a first-of-its-kind hotel and conference center in the city.

Denham Springs Mayor Gerard Landry says residents have had to travel to areas like Baton Rouge to host meetings.

"This is going to be a one-stop shop for the city of Denham and the parish," Landry said.

The proposed conference center and Hilton Garden Inn would be built right next to one another on 22 acres of land near Pete's Highway and Rushing Road.

Landry says he was approached by the landowners, who were interested in doing some sort of project on the property.

"They wanted to know what the city of Denham Springs and what the parish could utilize, and my suggestion to them was that a conference center with a nice upscale hotel would be wonderful," Landry said.

As of now, the estimated cost for the proposed 130-room hotel is about $30 million. Around $3 million for the conference center and around $15 million to $20 million for infrastructure and roads

"We envisioned really a connector road that's going to take the citizens of the parish, not just Denham, from Juban all the way to Range Avenue," Commercial Development Director at RE/MAX Select, Joe Moore, said. "To create a project like this, you need infrastructure."

While the hotel is expected to be funded independently by the builder, the conference center, infrastructure and roads would be paid for by tax increment financing, as the city looks to create an economic development district in the area.

"It's a TIF, so all the tax dollars that are generated on that piece of property are what pay for it," Landry said.

Moore says there will be more opportunities for economic development in the future near the proposed hotel and conference center.

"We're going to have some retail that hasn't come to this parish, so that's one of the economic stimuli that you'll see that we don't have now. I can't tell you what they are, but I can tell you everyone's excited about who we're going to be bringing to the market," Moore said.

The Denham Springs Council will hold a public hearing on the project at its next meeting on Nov. 24. If everything goes as planned, Joe Moore says construction for the project could be underway as early as 2027.