COOK – The Vermilion Hotel, which is scheduled to open on May 1, will give local residents a preview during an open house scheduled on Saturday, April 16.

Tom Musech plans two open houses. The first will be from noon to 4 p.m. and open to the public. Pizza, pop and prize drawings will be offered. The second is from 5 to 8 p.m. and is open to area business leaders.

Lenci Enterprises served as general contractor for the project, which will add nine rooms to the existing six, to expand the hotel’s capacity to 15 rooms.

Most of the original Vermilion Hotel was lost in a Labor Day fire in 2013. A year later, Musech held a groundbreaking and announced plans for rebuilding the hotel.

The new hotel features rustic log cabin bed frames, a laundry room, cable television and Wi-Fi.

Wildlife murals, painted by Nancy Luloff, adorn the hotel’s hallways, which are decorated in a northwoods motif.

The IRRRB approved a $130,000 grant to the city of Cook for the hotel project. The grant was used to provide infrastructure, utilities and site work for the hotel.

Musech is using the insuraance settlement and taking out a loan to cover the remaining cost of the project. Security State Bank of Hibbing and the Entrepreneur Fund are providing the loan.

Musech said the Eveleth- based Entre-preneur Fund is assuming a third of the loan, which reduces the risk for the bank and makes it more attractive to provide loans for business ventures.

The price tag for the project came to about $1 million.

Fire destroys hotel

The hotel fire was the second major fire to affect Cook in 2013. In June, the Brown Building fire in downtown Cook resulted in the loss of two businesses — the Dollar Barn and Gilley’s Naturals — and eight apartments.

Six fire departments responded to the motel blaze. The cause of the fire was later determined to be electrical, possibly triggered by a lightning strike.

Despite a full hotel, quick thinking by one of the hotel guests helped to avoid any injuries. She awoke to the smell of smoke and alerted other hotel occupants, knocking on their doors to rouse them so they could safely exit the building, according to hotel manager Joan (Musech) Hahn.

Firefighters were able to prevent the fire’s spread to six motel rooms and the adjacent Country Store by enlisting a local contractor to tear down a portion of the Vermilion Motel. Angora-based KGM Contractors Inc., which had equipment stationed near Cook for work on the Highway 53 expansion, handled the job.

Hotel’s history

The hotel has been in the Musech family for more than 30 years. John and Verdella started The Country Store in 1979 after a fire burned the previous business, Johnson Motors.

John, who was the city’s fire chief at the time, asked the owner if he planned to rebuild. When he said he didn’t plan to reopen his business in Cook, John said he thought the site would be ideal for a convenience store.

Verdella encouraged John to pursue that dream even though they didn’t have enough money to make it a reality.

“We were paying on a grocery store, a home and a lake place and raising our kids,” John recalled. But John was able to obtain time and financing for the project because of his good reputation.

“They told me they weren’t worried because my credit was good,” he recalled.

The Vermilion Hotel, which was part of the package, was the only hotel in Cook and became a popular stay for those visiting the area. Doctors and specialists at the Cook Hospital also often stayed at the Vermilion Hotel.

John said Verdella designed the interior of the original hotel rooms and decided on the furnishings.

Tom, who purchased the business from his parents in 2001, also acknowledged his mother’s contributions to the hotel as he reflected on the fire that swept through the motel in 2013, during the September 2014 groundbreaking.

“I lost my business,” he said, his voice starting to tremble with emotion. “But my mom lost her baby. Because she did all of the interior decorating and buying and made it the place it was. Hopefully, we can carry on the tradition of what she started.”