OXFORD — Development of a hotel and restaurant across from the Oxford Casino is contingent on progress in the town’s public sewer project, which is expected to begin construction this spring.

On Thursday, Town Manager Michael Chammings said the two projects are intertwined. Hotel owners want to have access to public sewer lines, while the town is counting on securing a high number of users as soon as the system goes online. The town is also looking forward to capturing tax value from the development to repay the loan financing the sewer project, Chammings said.

“You’re not going to build a hotel without a sewer,” said Joe Casalinova, the local developer coordinating the hotel project with partners GIRI Hotel Management and Thurlow Family LLC.

“That’s not me saying that, it’s fact,” he said.

In an interview Thursday, Casalinova said the Quincy, Mass.-based GIRI was developing a budget and construction schedule for the project, expected to cost $15.4 million. The hotel is planned for a 19.5 acre parcel across Route 26 from the Oxford Casino. Thurlow Family LLC is the company representing the family that owns the property.

According to Chammings, the town is expected to finalize a contract this week for the specialized wastewater treatment equipment planned for the sewer project. The contract is with Olivio USA, the company chosen by selectmen last December to provide the equipment.

Construction of the plant and sewer lines should go out within two weeks, Chammings said. He predicted ground breaking will be in April, and completion by September.

The sewer treatment plant is planned at Welchville Dam at the intersection of Routes 26 and 121.

Last April, selectmen took out a $13.7 million loan to finance the sewer project construction. The loan is expected to be repaid through user fees and revenue from the town’s Tax Increment Financing District.

The first phase of public sewer lines will run north and south on Route 26, within the town’s TIF district, strategically positioned to service present and future businesses along the corridor, including the proposed hotel and the Oxford Casino.

Last December, Oxford selectmen signed a credit enhancement agreement with Thurlow LLC, the company formed by owners of the property where the hotel is planned.

The hotel plan was announced last June, and the Oxford Planning Board signed off on the project in late August.

According to the terms of the credit agreement, developers must add $4 million in value to the property by April 1.

On Thursday, Chammings suggested that deadline would not be enforced if construction of the sewer was delayed.

“If something happens with our contracts or our contractors or our bidding process, where it’s our fault that the system isn’t going to come in until November, then we wouldn’t expect them to be putting that much money in that fast because they wouldn’t be able to open their doors,” Chammings said.

“We’re not going to hold them accountable if something is an issue on our end,” he said.

pmcguire@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link