Monitoring the economic pulse of the Triad
CITY MIGHT TURN DOWN HOTEL GROUP’S REQUEST FOR PARKING GARAGE
To make a proposed downtown luxury hotel viable, a consortium of investors led by developer Bridget Chisholm is asking the city of Greensboro and Guilford County to approve $8 million in Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds to finance a parking garage and retail shell separate from the hotel itself. The city appears to be balking at that request. Assistant City Manager Andy Scott wrote in a Jan. 19 memo to at-large Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw: “This is not a feasible option for Greensboro. North Carolina state law requires that General Obligation Bonds ([Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds] are a form of General Obligation Bond) be authorized by a public referendum. The federal statutes that created RZEDB provide for a timeframe for the utilization of the RZEDB that is not sufficient to accommodate a referendum. If council should decide to move forward on the construction of a parking garage, staff would likely recommend that construction be financed by Certificates of Participation, where the debt service would be covered by parking revenue.”
