Little has emerged publicly about a proposed hotel/market center in downtown Mount Airy since a Feb. 4 public hearing on the project, but it has been discussed privately.
That was the case last Monday night, when a closed session was held on the issue during a meeting of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners.
“I think the plan is to have something ready to vote on at the first meeting in March,” Mayor Pro Tem Ron Niland said of the commissioners’ next-scheduled gathering this coming Thursday, when further details could emerge.
During the closed session, city officials are said to have discussed option agreement provisions regarding the plans for a boutique upscale hotel containing 77 rooms to be developed in the Sparger Building. It is an imposing structure fronting Willow Street which is part of the former Spencer’s industrial property the municipality has owned since 2014 and sought to transform for new uses.
Along with the hotel, which could be operated under either the Marriott or Wyndham label, a group headed by Sunhouse Development is seeking to establish a market center in the Cube Building. Located to the rear of the Sparger structure, it is also part of the Spencer’s holdings bought by Mount Airy, with convention-type meeting rooms and other amenities envisioned for “The Cube.”
The total price tag for the project has been put at $13 million to $14 million, with the city government asked to allocate $2.9 million in taxpayer dollars for infrastructure improvements to aid the endeavor.
Speakers at the Feb. 4 public hearing were overwhelming in their support for both the hotel/market center concept and the injection of city funding.
In addition to city elected officials and staff members, those assembled for Monday night’s closed session included at least one representative of Mount Airy Downtown Inc., a group assisting with the hotel effort.
Also on hand was Charlie Vaughn, a former construction company owner now serving as a volunteer project coordinator for the Spencer’s redevelopment.
Under the state Open Meetings Law, a public body may hold a closed session under an economic-development provision of that law. Theoretically, such discussions can be sensitive in nature, and elected officials typically avoid public talks to prevent some other community from possibly making a counter-offer to land a desired project.
In July 2016, the commissioners approved an option/incentive agreement for former Spencer’s property surrounding plans then for a boutique hotel and banquet hall, market-rate apartment complex and performing arts/business center.
Under that pact, developers of each facility had a two-year option to buy property, with the city to recover $35,000 from all three when those options were exercised, a total of $105,000.
Along with granting the three developers exclusive options to acquire portions of the complex, the agreement called for the city government to appropriate up to $382,500 for certain “pre-development” activities.
A proposed expansion of the Virginia-based Barter Theatre later was added to the mix, which would have driven traffic for the hotel. But plans for the Barter expansion were abandoned two years later by Mount Airy officials over cost concerns, with the hotel developers subsequently backing out of the arrangement.
Only the apartment complex, which opened in early 2020, became a reality.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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