Council approves purchase order for hotel project
Published 6:01 pm Tuesday, March 8, 2016
During its Feb. 22 meeting, the Washington City Council acted on several projects under way in the city, including the construction of a new hotel.
The council unanimously approved a $24,500 purchase order for Hood Richardson to develop the water and sewer engineering services for the new hotel being built on West 15th Street. New Age Properties is developing the hotel project next to the city’s No. 2 fire station.
In August 2015, the city was notified it had been awarded a $100,000 grant to provide the publicly owned utilities to the 87-room hotel. The project developer, New Age Properties, is required by the grant conditions to contribute $101,400 toward the project, with the city providing $5,000, which the developer agrees to reimburse the city. The project’s budget is estimated at $206,400, according to a city document.
A grant project ordinance approved by the council shows $149,800 allocated for construction, $24,500 appropriated for engineering design, $9,500 allocated for construction administration/observation, $7,600 earmarked for legal fees and $15,000 allocated for contingency.
The hotel will include a restaurant, according to information supplied to the city’s Planning Board. The board will have some say in the design and appearance of the hotel.
The grant terms require that 20 jobs be created and those jobs are maintained for a minimum of six consecutive months.
During a meeting in June 2015, the council authorized the mayor to sign an application for a N.C. Rural Infrastructure grant and enter into an agreement with the Mid-East Commission for it to prepare the grant application. The city will pay the commission $2,500 to prepare the grant and administer it.
The N.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority approved that grant in August 2015. The hotel will house 87 rooms, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce. The hotel will be the anchor tenant on a 15-parcel commercial and light industrial property, according to the department.
New Age Properties plans to invest about $6.8 million to build the hotel and create about 20 jobs, according to the department. The estimated cost for sewer lines and street infrastructure that would serve the hotel comes to $424,000, with $100,000 of that cost being paid for by the grant, according to a memorandum from Matt Rauschenbach, the city’s administrative services director and chief financial officer.