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Photo by Jim Craven Workers construct the outside of the lobby area at the new Edgewater Inn in Shady Cove. The motel boasts 55 rooms, a tanning room and fitness facilities. Relax in luxury near the Rogue Shady Cove's Edgewater Inn is top class By MELISSA MARTIN SHADY COVE -- The first luxury motel on the Upper Rogue River welcomed guests last weekend. Edgewater Inn, situated between the county's most popular rafting and fishing dock and Highway 62, is open for business. "It's so beautiful here," says co-owner Greg Joelson. "I've been all over Canada with my football career and all over the world with my wife's career, but there is no place as beautiful and as spectacular as the Rogue Valley." Edgewater Inn features 55 rooms, 20 of them with French doors that open to private patios on the river, a conference room that can seat 60 people and an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub. There's also a storage barn for guest boat parking and a county-owned boat parking lot across the street. Room rates range from $50 to $125 in the winter, $60 to $150 in the summer. "We already have 300 rooms booked for the summer," Joelson says. Many of the summer reservations are connected to weddings scheduled at county-owned River House, next door in Shady Cove Park. "It's a neat marriage between the two facilities," says Mike Malepsy, of Windemere Real Estate, located across the river from the new motel. "People can stay at the Edgewater Inn and walk over to the boat ramp to fish." His son, Casey, will move his business, Casey's Guide Service, to the lobby of the Edgewater Inn, where he will be the head guide. Edgewater rooms have a lot of amenities, the owners say, including gas fireplaces, ceiling fans, microwaves, large televisions, free HBO and knotty pine furniture. Four of the rooms have hot tubs next to the beds and 12 rooms have fully-equipped kitchens. The pool house has a fish-cleaning station, laundry facilities, a tanning room and an exercise room. The lobby is designed with a Northwest flair, with river rock around the fireplace, a fir mantle and a waterfall that can be seen outside the picture windows. Inside the rooms, guests find cool, Northwest colors, from green and blue comforters on the bed to pine-framed trout sketches on the walls, done by local artist Bruce Cushman. "We wanted to use colors, woods and themes that are indigenous to the area," Greg Joelson says. "That's the only way to compliment the view." The Edgewater Inn is a project of Joelson and his father, Gordon, a Coos Bay attorney who built the Edgewater Inn in Coos Bay and the Penny Wise in Sutherlin. Greg Joelson spent the past two years as general manager at the Penny Wise. He will do the same at Shady Cove's Edgewater Inn, living in an apartment at the motel. "That's the only way to get the business organized and properly staffed," says Greg Joelson, 32. "I can get involved in the community and the people of Shady Cove can meet me and learn about our business. We're part of the community and we need the community's support." Greg Joelson graduated from Marshfield High School and earned degrees in economics and German from Arizona State University. He was a professional football player from 1989 to 1994, playing for the San Francisco 49ers, the San Diego Chargers and in the Canadian Football League. Joelson's actress wife, Tsianina Joelson, is an MTV host who lives in Los Angeles. She's a native of Coquille. "He's more of a household name in the Canadian Football League than in the National Football League," says Greg's father, Gordon Joelson. "We got a lot of Canadian travelers at the Penny Wise, which is along the Interstate 5 corridor. And Greg has an immediate focal point with them." Gordon Joelson and his wife are Roseburg High graduates. Gordon Joelson earned a business degree from the University of Oregon, a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School and has been an attorney in Coos Bay for 30 years. "We've been up and down the Rogue River all our lives," he says. His motels are not part of a franchise, but he owns the rights to the name in Oregon. There are Edgewater Inns all over the United States, including one billed as Seattle's only waterfront hotel and built in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair. Shady Cove's Edgewater is located on prime property, the Joelsons say. They have their Shady Cove real estate broker to thank for that. Malepsy spent the past four years convincing the City Council to allow a land swap with Jackson County Parks department for the 2.14-acre site that is home to the motel. "Jackson County got a more desirable parcel away from the highway and Gordon Joelson ended up with land right by the highway," Malepys says. The Joelson father-son team is planning a grand opening June 5-6 during the Western Art Show in Shady Cove. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA