OXFORD — Construction on a proposed 93-room Hampton Inn across from the Oxford Casino on Route 26 could be weeks away after developers submitted plans to the state. 

Hotel developers are in the process of building the hotel, the first stage in a “master plan” to develop 550 acres of farmland into a series of shops and restaurants.

The design, submitted by Oxford-based developers Casalinova Development Group, calls for a five-floor, 53,710-square-foot building with an attached 5,270-square-foot restaurant, which has yet to be named. The hotel includes a pool, fitness center, office space, car awning and 150 parking spaces.

According to the design plan, the front parking lot will be set back 50 feet from the road. Several farm buildings, including a llama and sheep barn, a concrete enclosure, a large red chicken barn and 480 square feet of a farmhouse barn lay in the path of construction and are due to be torn down.  

The greenhouses, ice cream shop and and farmhouse will remain.

Groundbreaking began in March, with developers hoping to finish the project in time to hook on to the new municipal sewer system, expected to come online this winter.

The roughly four-acre property where the hotel is to be built was transferred from Suzanne Hall, the owner of Crestholm Farm, to GIRI Oxford I LLC, a subsidiary of GIRI, in November, according to records from the Oxford County Registry of Deeds.

In November, GIRI Oxford I also took out a mortgage worth more than $5 million from Kennebunk Savings Bank for the property, according to records from the deeds office.

The hotel project is expected to cost $15.4 million, according to development plans submitted to the town. It is projected to create as many as 90 construction jobs and employ at least 80 people when it opens.

Casalinova President Joe Casalinova could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Last December, Thurlow Family LLC signed a credit enhancement agreement allowing hotel developers to retain some of the property taxes generated as a result of the development.

The parcel planned for the hotel is within a Tax Increment Financing District that allows the town to shelter higher-assessed property value brought on by new commercial developments. 

The 15-year agreement will allow the town to annually allocate 20 percent of the increased property taxes — $367,500 total — generated by the hotel development into a special, town-controlled account. The funds can be used to reimburse Thurlow LLC for expenditures on drainage, paving, landscaping and water and sewer projects.

Final approval of the plan awaits word from the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office, according to Code Enforcement Officer Rodney Smith.

Last month, Oxford fire Chief Scott Hunter stirred controversy after saying Town Manager Michael Chammings supported business interests over safety after he voiced concerns that the hotel’s proposed elevator size would be too small to accommodate emergency crews’ stretchers. 

Chammings, however, previously stated the size was in accordance with state law and the fire marshals, not town officials, would have the final determination on whether they met code. 

Fire marshals are expected to notify the town if the plans have been approved in a few weeks, Smith said.