Santaquin is hoping to augment its tax base and gear up for growth from a proposed 60,000-acre development in southern Utah County with the construction of a 100-room Choice hotel, three restaurants, a business park and the city's first grocery store.

David Earnshaw, the hotel's developer, will announce today he is in talks with Choice Hotels International to build two Choice hotels, one in Santaquin and one in Salt Lake City.

The brand is most likely Comfort Suites, said Stuart Reid, chief executive of The BARR Co., an Ogden-based consultant to Earnshaw's company, Earnshaw Enterprises, in Salt Lake City.

Construction of the three-story hotel, to be located on a 7-acre parcel at 750 E. Main St. in Santaquin, will start in a few months and is scheduled for completion by next summer.

Earnshaw also is in negotiations with up to two national chain restaurants for the project, which will include a new Maverik gas station, the hotel, three restaurants and 100,000 square feet of office space. The project, which totals 11 acres, is expected to create around 100 jobs. The name of the hotel and restaurants will be formally announced in spring, Reid said.

Among reasons cited for building the hotel in Santaquin are its location and proximity to the freeway, and the pro-business support given by the Santaquin mayor and City Council in terms of design approvals, permitting and inspections.

"Santaquin is the first and last Utah County town coming and going from southern Utah. There are currently no chain restaurants or hotels there," Reid said. Santaquin has a population of 8,400.

Santaquin Mayor James DeGraffenried said the city is trying to prepare for the proposed 60,000-acre development plan for the Elberta area -- which is expected to bring in businesses including paper products giant First Quality -- by building hotels, business parks and upgrading its transportation system.

"We don't want to have the transportation and tax base problems that some north county cities have," DeGraffenried said.

The Elberta project, which includes 3,000 acres of industrial park and potentially 55,000 homes, is expected to create up to 10,000 jobs, said Santaquin City Planner Dennis Marker

The city also is in talks with a major Utah-based grocery store chain and the landowner, the Boyer Group, to build a 35,000-square-foot to 50,000-square-foot store, he said.

Apart from the 7 acres of land Maverik sold to the hotel developers, a few neighboring Maverik-owned parcels, located south of Stringham's Hardware, are still available for purchase, said Don Lilyquist, a Maverik permits manager.