While local officials aren’t saying much this morning about the Metro Council’s decision to deny the creation of a special taxing district to help finance a new Courtyard Marriott planned for downtown, the developers of the project say the council’s action throws the future of the hotel into serious doubt.
“Windsor Aughtry Hotel Group and local partner/investor Gordon LeBlanc are extremely disappointed in the outcome of last night’s Metropolitan Council meeting,” says Bill Fayssoux, the local project manager with Windsor Aughtry Hotel Group, in a statement to Daily Report. “We need to evaluate all our options, if any, and respond at the appropriate time. However, without the council’s support, the likelihood of the project remains in doubt.”
The council voted 5-4 Wednesday to deny the creation of a special Tax Increment Financing district for the hotel, which was planned for a vacant parking lot owned by LeBlanc at Third and Florida streets. Windsor Aughtry has previously said it needed a TIF to help make the project economically viable, but council members questioned the need to use public funds to finance a private project in what some consider to be a nearly saturated hotel market.
Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer was unavailable for comment this morning, and Visit Baton Rouge CEO Paul Arrigo says his agency has no opinion on the TIF. But Arrigo says having the additional hotel would “add to the market’s portfolio of products” and help make Baton Rouge more attractive as a convention destination.
It’s possible the council could take up the TIF one more time this year, should the developers decide to try for it again. Councilman John Delgado, who supported the TIF, says the measure could come up again at any time, though if it fails a second time the council would have to wait a full year before reconsidering.
“If they can get the votes it will come back up,” he says. “If they don’t, I would imagine it is dead in the water.”
In other action Wednesday, the council approved spending $2.7 million for an environmental study on the proposed Nicholson Corridor trolley that would connect LSU to downtown. The council also introduced rezoning a tract of land on the Mississippi River that is the proposed site of a controversial barge cleaning facility. The council will consider the rezoning—which, if approved, would effectively kill the planned facility—at the next regular Metro Council Zoning meeting on Aug. 19.
—Stephanie Riegel
