South Carolina-based Windsor Aughtry Hotel Group has paid $2.25 million to Gordon Leblanc Jr. and Moffett Leblanc Strain for land at Florida and Third streets downtown on which the company is developing a Courtyard Marriott hotel.
In separate land deals filed today, Windsor Aughtry purchased the land as Istrouma Hospitality LLC. Sales documents indicate the two purchases include just less than three-quarters of an acre total.
While Leblanc and Strain have sold the land to Windsor Aughtry, they are also investing in the hotel. Windsor Aughtry got approval in late October from the Metro Council for a two-cent tax increment financing deal for the $22 million hotel, which is expected to generate an estimated $700,000 per year in city-parish tax revenues, $100,000 of which will be rebated back to the developers. The Metro Council had previously rejected the TIF deal.
Windsor Aughtry plans to put the construction request for bids out by the end of the month and break ground in March. The hotel is expected to open in 2017. As previously reported, a Starbucks will anchor the hotel’s 1,425-square-foot ground-floor retail space, which will have an outdoor seating area and access from both streets.
