Visitors to Columbus will soon have another option for overnight lodging as a national chain is once again coming to the Friendly City.
Mark Castleberry of Columbus Properties has been given the go-ahead in the form of an amended tax increment financing (TIF) from the board of supervisors and the city council to build a third hotel on his property on 18th Ave. The property presently houses the Fairfield Inn and Suites and Logan’s Roadhouse.
“We are going to build a Hampton Inn and Suites on the property,” Castleberry said.
The board of supervisors and city council recently agreed to amend Castleberry’s TIF agreement from “up to $3 million” to “up to $3.845 million,” with a Dec. 31, 2014 completion deadline. The TIF Agreement allows the city and county to sell bonds to the developer, who is then responsible for their repayment. The amended agreement gives Castleberry approval to build the third hotel and it will reduce the restaurant square-footage allotment from 10,000 square feet to 6,500 square feet.
“The original agreement was for 10,000 square feet of restaurants, but by agreeing to build a third hotel, the restaurant space has been reduced,” Castleberry said. “Basically, Logan’s covers the 6,5000-square feet agreement, but we looking to bring in a small fast-food chain or drive-through. We don’t have any leads right now on what chains we want to pursue. This is something we will probably begin looking at in January.”
Castleberry’s investment with Hampton Inn and Suites marks the second time the national chain has been linked to a property in Columbus. The chain was originally planned to be located adjacent to Jackson Square and developed by the Sethi family of Jackson. Castleberry said the Sethis lost their interest in the franchise. It was then purchased by Columbus Properties. The Sethis are currently developing a 99-room Hyatt Place on the property next to Belk on Highway 45.
“After the Sethis lost the franchise, we bought it,” said Castleberry. “We brought some Hampton representatives to town and tried to sell them on the Gilmer Inn downtown, but that didn’t work out.”
Before Castleberry can begin construction on the new hotel, he must first start work on his second hotel, Courtyard by Marriott. The 110-room “state of the art” hotel will be “the nicest hotel in the Golden Triangle,” said Castleberry.
“Marriott regularly updates its plans and design,” he said. “This will be their latest concept. It will include a bistro for food. It will have large meeting rooms — over 3,000 square feet — and it will have a large, touch-screen TV where patrons can get local and national information. It’s going to be a nice business-class hotel. We are going to start construction on it in September. We plan to work on both hotels simultaneously, with construction on the Hampton to begin after the Marriott is started.”
Although three hotels on one property may seem excessive, Castleberry said it makes perfect sense.
“There is no mystery or secret to why I chose to develop this property,” he said. “It has great visibility and it is very accessible. There are some other properties in town, but they are next to blighted areas. This is a nice area where people feel safe. There is a synergy to having three hotels there — it gives people more choices.”
The additional hotels could also mean good things for the area. A study conducted by the Columbus-Lowndes Economic Development Link showed Columbus has four fewer hotels than it needs.
“The three hotels (Castleberry) is doing and the one the Sethis are building will put us were we need to be,” Link CEO Joe Max Higgins said in April. “I think people underestimate this hotel stuff. When people come to town to do business, they want somewhere nice to stay, and that will bring them back to Columbus.”
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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