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It's a new look for Lake Lawn

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Bathrooms at the newly remodeled Lake Lawn Resort outside of Delavan got special treatment. Ceramic tile and stone counter tops lend a residential feel to the space.

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

The view from the Lookout Bar and Eatery at the Lake Lawn Resort takes full advantage of spectacular views of Delavan Lake. The resort advertises owning nearly two miles of shoreline on the lake.

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

In addition to renovating it's guest rooms, Lake Lawn Resort has also refined the rest of the resort. This unconventional meeting room has a game table in addition to whiteboards and large screen displays.

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Suite rooms at the newly renovated Lake Lawn Resort feature fireplaces, wet bars, dining areas and sitting areas.

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

A standard room at the newly renovated Lake Lawn Resort features a fireplace and a flat screen TV with it's other amenities.

DELAVAN — Do you want to brainstorm in a conference room with a foosball table and Holstein-patterned ottomans?

Or would you prefer to curl up with a book or a laptop in a sunny courtyard?

Either way, you'll have wireless Internet access, and you'll never be far from a flat-screen TV.

This isn't your grandpa's hotel and convention center.

Well, maybe it is, but it sure looks different than it did a few years ago.

Generations of families enjoy Lake Lawn Resort on Highway 50 east of Delavan, said Pete Zellmer, Lake Lawn's director of sales and marketing. The public is welcome to join guests in two restaurants.

All will enjoy the modernized, rustic décor that is the result of the resort's first cosmetic overhaul since the 1980's, Zellmer said.

"The goal was to keep the personality of the lake while bringing the property up to modern standards," he said.

The resort has officially completed the first phase of its $390 million planned renovation and construction project. The $40 million renovation phase started with the 222 guest rooms and finished recently with the public spaces, such as meeting rooms and the lobby.

The 250-acre resort was quiet Wednesday morning. A group of women exercised in an indoor pool. A few children ran between hotel rooms.

Zellmer expects this weekend to be busy as the resort breaks out a new dining feature uncommon to the area: cooking demonstrations by the resort's chef in a space built into the new upscale Frontier Restaurant.

Casual diners might prefer the renovated Lookout Bar and Eatery, and neighbors on Delavan Lake are welcome to cruise across the lake for an easy dinner, Zellmer said.

In February, a national qualifying ice fishing competition will take place on Delavan Lake just yards from the resort, Zellmer said.

When spring rolls around, Lake Lawn owner Pat Nelson plans to break ground on the next phase of the upgrades: construction of the first of five lakefront condominium buildings called the Villas at Harbor's Edge.

The condominium project is estimated at $100 million and would include 130 two- and three-room condos, Nelson said.

Eventually, plans include construction of the Grand Delavan hotel and conference center and an indoor water park. Lake Lawn will move its main entrance from Highway 50 to North Shore Drive.

The Delavan City Council in summer 2008 approved a developers agreement that called for completion of the projects by mid-2012 but allowed for changes to the timeline.

The city has a stake in the timeline because it has committed to $4 million in water and sewer improvements in the tax incremental finance district that includes the resort, Alderman Dave Kilkenny said.

One part of the infrastructure improvements would be a $1 million lift station. While the city is happy to build the lift if it's needed, officials must be careful not to spend money unnecessarily, Kilkenny said.

"We're committed to build a $1 million lift, but if you (Lake Lawn) then later decide not to build, we want acknowledgement that the taxpayers shouldn't be burdened," Kilkenny said.

While Nelson previously hoped to break ground in the spring of 2008, he said he's confident the condos will sell. They are "limited products" that are more affordable and easier to maintain than lakefront homes, Nelson said. Condo owners can use resort amenities such as room service and can expect the resort to help them rent their condos out when not in use.

"These are for lake people that want hotel services," Nelson said. "The units will be in the $700,000 range."