ABERDEEN – A collection of city and county officials, local business owners, community leaders, regional agencies and major players of the Parkway Hotel project gathered for a conversation-style meeting Aug. 17 at City Hall to determine how to move the project forward to implementation.
“If you’re sitting in these seats, it means you can move things. It’s just that simple,” said Mayor Charles Scott.
Thanks to donations from the public and $100,000 in state funding, Aberdeen Main Street purchased the hotel last summer in hopes of finding an investor to take it on and renovate it.
Aberdeen Main Street Director Ann Tackett asked last week what can be done in good faith to complete the renovation.
“We’re not looking for this hotel to be the Parkway Hotel a.k.a. Aberdeen Main Street. We just want it done. Whoever needs to take credit or name it, whatever we need to do, we’re willing to do it. We’re not going to be selfish,” she said.
Business owner John Allmond noted Marriott Hotel occupies older renovated properties in some cities.
Takeaway points of the meeting including the tasks of identifying phases to make the project a reality, reaching out to hotel franchises that may be interested in the property and running numbers to determine which is the better method to seek funding – public or private ownership.
“ARC [Appalachian Regional Commission] cannot give grants to for-profits. If a grant is received by a nonprofit or a city or a county, say to retrofit a building, and they sell it the next year, the federal government has an interest in that profit and can take that grant money back,” said Andrea Rose of the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Attorney Bob Faulks said the city isn’t in the position of managing a hotel.
“The site is owned by Main Street but if you’re wanting a hotel and restaurant, at some point you’re going to have to have private investors and a private business owning and operating that hotel and restaurant. That’s the elephant in the room. Ultimately, who’s going to be doing this?” he said. “I’d like for someone to help us market this idea and find somebody who’s experienced in owning and operating hotels and restaurants.”
Architect Belinda Stewart asked if there are any studies that exist similar to the Parkway Hotel project, but no one was aware of one. She likes the idea of breaking the project into two phases.
“I wonder if this could be a major phase one and a major phase two with phase one as the public project, and phase two is a private project. As an example, if ARC could provide an amount of funding and if the city and other groups together could match that money,” she said, adding funding could be used for architecture and engineering. “Then once that is completed, you could transition to a phase two and rather than selling it for profit, then could that project be offered to a developer at no to little cost as an incentive to bring that developer to the table? The developer could then take advantage of the tax credits for the major works that need to be done.”
After Aberdeen Main Street purchased the property last summer, local contractors offered in-kind services in demolishing adjourning motel rooms. The overall plan includes hotel rooms, downtown apartments, a restaurant and coffee shop in the Parkway Hotel building.
There was mention of grant cycles in January and March that may be good fits for the project.
When asked about the timeline if funding was available now, Columbus developer Chris Chain, who has worked with Tackett on the Parkway Hotel project, said it could be completed in six to eight months after a 60-day start period.
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Brainstorming meeting focuses on Parkway Hotel project's future - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
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