Jackson OKs development pact for proposed 75-room hotel

A proposed hotel development in Jackson is moving forward with the help of tax increment financing district funds.

City officials approved a development agreement between Jackson and Midwest Hospitality Group LLC of Sunset Hills, Missouri, during Monday night's board of aldermen meeting.

Alex Patel, an investor with Midwest Hospitality Group LLC, said Tuesday during a phone interview the proposed hotel will have about 75 rooms and is expected to be staffed by about 25 to 30 people, some of whom will be full-time employees.

"Maybe more than that," Patel said.

The hotel will be at 3003 S. Old Orchard Road in Jackson.

As far as the project's total cost, Patel said it's too soon to say.

"It's hard to tell at this point," he said. "It's early. We're expecting to open sometime in 2019."

The development will be funded in part through one of the city's tax increment financing districts. Four payments from the Redevelopment Plan for the Interstate 55 Corridor Tax Increment Financing District are scheduled to go to the developers, representing $210,000 in total.

Tax increment financing is a public financing mechanism in which tax revenue collected above the base amount before the project started applies to the project. The TIF project sunsets, at which time all tax revenue is disbursed to all taxing entities.

These payments are intended to reimburse the developers for real-estate acquisition and infrastructure-improvement costs, according to the approved ordinance.

If, however, the developer does not have the hotel completed and open before July 2019, the TIF district funds could be greatly reduced.

"Time is of the essence of this agreement," according to the ordinance.

Additionally, up to $100,000 in funds from the same TIF district will be used to reimburse the city for the planning and construction of electric utility lines to the development's site.

Mayor Dwain Hahs said Tuesday in a phone interview because infrastructure work is one of the approved uses of TIF funds, the hotel needed only the approval of the project in question, which it did Monday night.

The TIF being used, Hahs said, was a joint effort by the city of Jackson and Cape Girardeau County.

Patel said he's happy to be working with the city of Jackson and excited for the project to move forward.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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