Best Western Plus to open in 2020 at Old Orchard/U.S. 61 in Jackson

Site preparations are underway along U.S. 61 in Jackson west of Interstate 55 for a new four-story hotel developers say should open around the middle of next year.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the 80-room Best Western Plus hotel is set for 9:30 a.m. Monday at the site, which is immediately east of Kohlfeld Distributing on the southwest corner of South Old Orchard Road and U.S. 61.

“Depending on weather and other factors, we are anticipating being open sometime during the summer of 2020,” according to Jay Patel of St. Louis, a partner with Midwest Hospitality Group LLC, based in Sunset Hills, Missouri. MHG operates several other hotel properties in the St. Louis area and this will be the company’s first hotel in Southeast Missouri.

Officials in Jackson and Cape Girardeau say they expect to see several commercial developments in the vicinity of the I-55/U.S. 61 interchange between the two cities. Last week it was announced a Winks convenience store would be built on a 2-acre tract between U.S. 61 and the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex along Limbaugh Lane just east of the interstate.

In addition to commercial development, the Missouri Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin a major construction project at the interchange later this year. The project will involve replacement of northbound and southbound interstate bridges and will significantly impact traffic along U.S. 61 starting in the spring of 2020 and continuing until the project is completed in 2021.

Patel said the highway construction initially will be an inconvenience for hotel guests, “but in the long run, it will be worth it with much easier access.”

All this development comes on the heels of the construction of the nearby SportsPlex, which opened in 2017.

Patel said the new Jackson hotel will be an “upscale” version of the Best Western hotel brand.

“Best Western used to only have one tier or brand,” he said. “This will be one of their higher tier hotels for business and leisure travelers who expect more.”

Among the property’s amenities will be a breakfast buffet, indoor pool, a fitness area and free Wi-Fi. Once it’s open, Patel said the hotel will employ approximately 20 to 22 full- and part-time employees in various capacities.

The hotel site is within a tax increment financing (TIF) district established in 1998 to help develop property and infrastructure in the I-55 corridor. At that time, Old Orchard Road was mostly a gravel, two-lane road and did not have a lighted intersection at U.S. 61.

TIF-funded projects allow for all or a portion of tax revenue generated by a development to be applied toward additional development within the district while also incentivizing developers to establish businesses there.

Patel said the availability of TIF funding was a significant factor in MHG’s decision to build a hotel on the Jackson site.

Jackson city administrator Jim Roach said discussions with Patel and MHG started in the spring of 2017 and in August of that year the Jackson Board of Aldermen agreed to use TIF funding to bring infrastructure to the site.

“TIF funding has already funded extension of South Old Orchard Road from Highway 61,” Roach said.

Under the 2017 agreement, Midwest Hospitality Group was to receive up to $210,000 in reimbursements for the hotel’s development if it was operational by the middle of this year. However, since the construction timeline has been delayed, the reimbursement amount will be reduced.

“It will probably be slightly under $200,000,” the city administrator said, adding without the financial incentives, and TIF funding for street development and other infrastructure at the site the project would not be viable.

Roach credits Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs for bringing the TIF district and the hotel to this point.

“The mayor was very instrumental in this,” he said.

There are two project areas within Jackson’s TIF district. TIF 1 along Old Orchard Road is closer to U.S. 61 while TIF 2 includes East Main Street, extending north from about County Road 306 to Ridge Road near Bent Creek.

jwolz@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630