Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously last night to officially approve the Oread Redevelopment Project.
No one from the public spoke out against the project.
“We’ve been very cautious about the numbers and I’m excited about moving forward so I strongly suggest we move forward with this project,” said Commissioner Sue Hack.
The Oread Inn project will have to invest $11,000,000 into the construction of an underground parking garage and other improvements in the area around the 12th Street and Oread Avenue intersection.
The Oread Inn will be reimbursed over a 20-year period through tax incremental financing: new money the Oread Inn brings to the city.
In other words, the city will add a 1 percent sales tax to the hotel. The money raised through that tax will go toward reimbursing the Oread Inn for the $11,000,000 improvements it’s required to provide to the area.
If the hotel doesn’t earn enough revenue to reimburse itself in 20 years, it will not be completely reimbursed, said Matthew Gough, an attorney representing the Oread Inn project.
“The developers will pay all the expenses and are hoping to get back what they can from the tax incremental financing,” said Gough. “The applicant must self-perform and only then will it be reimbursed for its expenses.”
Commissioner Mike Amyx asked City Manager Dave Corliss what would happen if the developers didn’t follow through with their side of the agreement.
“If the developer defaults on the agreement, we can terminate the agreement and take them to court,” Corliss said. “If the developer doesn’t perform, they don’t get the incremental tax revenue.”
Next Tuesday, city commissioners will discuss the demolition plans for the structures located at 12th Street and Oread Avenue, which include Yello Sub, The Crossing and three houses on Indiana Street.
Paul Werner, an architect working on the project, said the demotion phase should begin April 9. He said the construction phase should begin in the middle of May.
He hopes the hotel will be completed by January of 2010, but it will probably take a little longer, he said.
Katy Welsh, member of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, provided the only public comment about the Oread Inn when she said the project was an opportunity for Lawrence to focus on the architectural aspect of the project.
“We realize this is a done deal, but we’re hoping this project opens up a great discussion about architecture in our community,” she said. “In that line of thinking, there is an architecture presentation at KU this Saturday where we will discuss the possible architectural look of the project.”
— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
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