Subject:
Title
Consider the City entering into agreements related to the development, financing, construction, and operation of a 205 room hotel and associated conference center project (the "project")
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Presented By: City Manager Hodgen
Recommendation and Review
The project will be located in downtown Harrisonburg at the corner of South Main Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. A 205 room hotel and connected conference center will be constructed on land currently owned by James Madison University. JMU will lease the property to be occupied by the hotel and conference center to dpM Partners, LLC, which will construct and operate the hotel using all private funds. dpM Partners, LLC will sublease the portion of the property occupied by the conference center to the JMU Foundation, Inc. (the "Foundation"). The Foundation will secure financing in the amount of approximately ten million dollars for the construction and equipping of the conference center. The City and the Industrial Development Authority of the City of Harrisonburg (the "IDA") will adopt economic development policies and enter into a non-binding, moral obligation support agreement with the Foundation where by the Foundation will receive an annual grant from the IDA in an amount equal to sum of certain taxes received by the City from the Project. The moral obligation support agreement is anticipated to remain in effect until the Foundation repays the amount financed by the Foundation for the construction and equipping of the conference center, together with certain other costs.