What’s another couple of weeks for something great?
That’s the approach of the Fort Worth City Council as they tabled a vote on the proposed new luxury hotel for the Museum District. The proposal is expected to be on the agenda when the council meets again on March 7.
District 7 Councilman Dennis Shingleton, in whose district the hotel will be, said the delay in the vote is centered around a discussion of the elevation of the hotel. The artist’s rendering calls for it to be 150 feet tall, he said.
“We’ll not solve those questions today, but we hope to in the next couple of weeks,” Shingleton said.
He added that enthusiasm about the proposed new Hotel Renovo and an agreement with Heart of America (HOA) is still strong.
“We have wanted a first-class five-star hotel in the Cultural District for years,” he said.
The new hotel is planned for 3300 Camp Bowie with access from The Modern and Kimbell art museums. It will feature 12 floors, 196,000 square feet, and a full-service restaurant.
Under the proposal, the city will provide 100 percent of the costs from its 7 percent hotel occupancy tax with annual caps. The city will own the land lease to the developer.
The projected cost is $47 million in real property investment, $36.5 million in hard construction costs. Occupancy is planned by Dec. 31, 2019, the same year the new arena in the Museum District is also expected to open.
City officials estimate the new hotel could provide up to $6.7 million in sales tax over the 16 year agreement. The additional sales tax could be used to help pay off the arena, a cost of about $13.8 million over the 16 years.
The new hotel is projected to create at least 30 full-time jobs by Dec. 31, 2020. Of those, 60 percent would include Fort Worth residents and 25 percent would be Fort Worth Central City. The hotel’s annual spending, per agreement, would be at least 15 percent with Fort Worth companies and 15 percent with Fort Worth Minority/Women in Business Enterprise.