The former Mayor of Newton is embarking on an effort to attract more events to the ballroom at Hotel Maytag. Mike Hansen ended his term as Mayor at the end of 2023 and has a contract to manage the five story Hotel Maytag building through December 2029. The building has 45 apartments, a restaurant, retail space, a movie theatre, and the ballroom. Hansen’s goal is to make the ballroom an enhanced downtown events center.

“We want to create excitement again in the downtown area. We have a beautiful building to do that. We have a lot of ideas and a lot of plans. This place is near and dear to our hearts.”

Hansen says he’s been working with other venues in Newton that host events to get ideas and leads for the ballroom as well, and he’s grateful for their assistance. Former State Senator Jack Hatch is the principal owner of Hatch Development Group, who owns Hotel Maytag and spent $16 million dollars renovating the building. He says when more people see the potential of the ballroom, it will propel the property to the vision they anticipated when the project was completed in the summer of 2019.