Five Ohio University seniors won $10,000 in a competition Friday for their plan to revamp The Oasis.
The group won the Oasis Business Plan Competition with its plan to turn the property into a boutique inn. The competition was an eight-week contest sponsored by OU's Center for Entrepreneurship, an offshoot of the College of Business and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.
Julianne Pekel, John Ryan, Adam Hickey, Jeff Peterka and Philip Beshara called their proposal The Inn on the Terrace
a 12-bedroom branch of the Ohio University Inn. The group's plan involves demolishing the 106-year-old Oasis, located at 70 University Terrace, and constructing a new 6,200 square-foot building. The plan would cost about $190,000.
The Oasis, owned by the OU Foundation, currently covers about 4,500 square feet, according to a 2006 Auxiliary Services assessment. The former restaurant was closed November 2006 and has not been maintained since.
OU Foundation Trustee Ray Schilderink said he and the other judges liked the strong business model and potential profitability of the winning proposal.
'The Inn' you could tell caught the eye of everybody he said.
Many of the other groups' proposals didn't take advantage of The Oasis' location, he said.
That property deserves more and is worth more Schilderink said.
The winning group members said they noticed there was no hotel within walking distance to OU.
Their plan would create a place for an alumni who comes back to stay on campus to re-experience Ohio University
said Beshara, who is studying political science. His four teammates are all studying business.
The boutique inn would employ management from Winegardner and Hammons, the company used at the OU Inn, Ryan said. Student jobs at the inn could count as restaurant, hotel and tourism internships, Pekel said.
The plan estimates that it would take less than one year to demolish The Oasis and build the inn, but 15 to 17 years to recuperate all of the costs.
The group said the $190,000 to build the inn is nowhere near the amount they estimated to keep The Oasis building. Renovations and upkeep could potentially cost more than $1 million, they said.
The second place team won $5,000, and the third-place team won $3,000. The prize money came from the OU Foundation's discretionary fund.
The next step is to update the OU Foundation Board of Trustees in June, Schilderink said. Although The Inn plan won, there is no guarantee that it will be approved by the Board.
... If (the plan) does happen
it'll be a real value to everyone in the community
Schilderink said.
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Kristina Hauptmann
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