Centre City grant OK'd
The state has given final approval to the $2 million grant that will help pay for the proposed hotel in downtown Butler.
The grant originally was awarded in 2013 to help fund the proposed 70-room Marriott Springhill Suites hotel. The money is now being officially released.
The Wolf administration on Wednesday announced the execution of that Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program contract, adding it will allow for a groundbreaking as early as next month, according to a news release from the state.
“I’m overjoyed,” said Mayor Tom Donaldson. “I can’t use enough adjectives to describe how happy I am. This is the last step in getting the hotel up.”
Donaldson said he was notified of the approval Wednesday through the office of Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st.
Neither the hotel nor garage has a groundbreaking date, although Donaldson said it should be in the next couple months.
The grant was awarded to the city redevelopment authority, which will be a 36 percent owner of the hotel. J.S. Capitol Construction, the developer of the project, will finance the rest of the project through a $2.9 million NexTier Bank loan and private investors.
Art Cordwell, executive director of the authority, said Wednesday he had not been notified of the approval.
“That’s great news if true, but I haven’t heard anything,” he said. “We’re still waiting for a signed contract.”
The hotel will be built at the corner of East Jefferson and South McKean streets. It will join a proposed 239 space parking garage to be built by the city and an already completed Rite Aid pharmacy as part of the Centre City project.
In a related matter, Donaldson said plans for the city’s proposed parking garage now feature an elevator.
“There will now be a third tower in the northeast corner,” he said. “It will have a three-story elevator.”
Original plans for the structure last month did not include an elevator due to the cost. Instead, each of the garage’s required handicap spaces would be on the first floor while two stairwells provided access to the upper tiers.
However, Donaldson said city officials received concerns from residents, many wondering what hotel guests would do with luggage.
“People with baby strollers was another issue,” the mayor said.
Last month officials estimated an elevator would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and would bring annual maintenance fees. Donaldson said he did not have an estimated cost on the elevator.
The city is paying for the garage through a bond issue from PNC Bank. The city authorized itself to spend up to $7 million on the project.
The total price of the hotel will not be determined until it is put out to bid. However, city officials expect it to cost more than $4 million based on industry standard estimates.
Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program is a state grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects.
