By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The old Red Lion hotel in downtown St. Joseph came down this summer after sitting empty since 2019.
But now, there's a delay in putting up its replacement.
HDDA St. Joseph LLC is the developer working to build a 150-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel and conference space.
St. Joseph city manager Bryan Carter says there are certain fundraising deadlines coming up at the end of this calendar year - deadlines that the developer wants an extension on as they work to finance the project.
"The cost of the construction of course as well as the cost of financing," Carter said on KFEQ's The Hotline with Barry Birr. "It's a tough time to construct or finance anything right now. Those are a couple of matters the developers are working through and will ultimately be bringing back to the city council for consideration of a likely extension."
The city has agreed to provide up to $3.5 million for the project in tax reimbursements through general sales and tourism taxes.
The new downtown hotel has a total estimated cost of over 20 million dollars. It was originally slated to be back open by the end of 2024.
Carter says this downtown hotel project is a major priority, as the Civic Arena continues to host high profile events.
"The Women's Division II NCAA (basketball) tournament coming again in March," he said. "As you have those, it makes the venue more desirable if the hotel is across the street versus having to come in from even 10 minutes away. Just the convenience of the walking distance is good."
Carter adds the current lack of conference room space in the city provides some challenges - challenges he hopes this new hotel can one day address.
"One of the challenges we have in St. Joe of course is our lack of conference room space," Carter said. "We have a couple of places in town, but we don't have an abundance of that conference room space."
"One of the challenges I've gathered in talking with different developers, conference room space is tough to cashflow. It just doesn't repay in the same way that hotel rooms repay."
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