The Knoxville City Council is expected to consider a plan this week that would bring a Marriott-brand hotel to the current Holiday Inn on Henley Street in downtown Knoxville.
According to documents posted ahead of Tuesday night’s city council meeting, RB Hotel Knoxville, LLC wants to renovate the property into a full-service Marriott. Updates would include the 286 guest rooms, restaurant, lounge, meeting spaces, hotel exterior, and the attached parking garage.
The hotel property is adjacent to the boutique Tennessean Hotel and the newly-renovated World’s Fair Exhibition Hall. It is across Clinch Avenue from the Knoxville Convention Center.
Developers say the project would help increase Knoxville’s profile as a convention destination and would further connect downtown with the University of Tennessee campus area.
The re-branded Marriott would join a sizable group of new or newly-renovated hotels in the downtown area.
Construction would begin in January 2020 and would be completed by June 2021, according to information submitted to the city by RB Hotel, which is a limited-liability company of Rockbridge Capital, LLC based in Columbus, OH.
The developer is asking to make set payments instead of paying assessed property taxes for a period of 10 years through an agreement between developers and local government called a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes).
If the PILOT is approved, the developer would make annual payments to Knoxville and Knox County totaling $307,210 for a decade following completion of the renovation project. That amount reflects the current tax bill for the property.
City planners estimate the combined property tax bill would otherwise increase to $798,489 annually without the PILOT.
Still, the hotel is expected to generate $2.5 million in sales tax revenue each year, according to documents the city council is reviewing.
The developer estimates the total cost for the project will be $61,775,000.
Property records show the hotel is currently owned by HI World’s Fair Park, LLC.