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Developer pitches SpringHill Suites, city staff and Lighthouse discuss parking garage financing
Summary
Lighthouse Properties described plans for an 80-room SpringHill Suites on the city-owned lot at South Seventh and Walnut, and city staff outlined a proposed public parking garage and a package of financing tools that would rely on tax increment and other incremental revenue sources. Commissioners signaled consensus to keep working on the proposal.
Lighthouse Properties and city staff presented a preliminary plan Sept. 22 to build a second downtown hotel — a 80‑room SpringHill Suites franchise — on the city-owned parking lot at the corner of South Seventh Street and Walnut, and to build a public parking garage next to it to replace the lot.
The developer said the Marriott brand would expand the reservation and loyalty pool downtown and that the proposed hotel site would be linked to Santa Fe Street by a 50‑foot-wide extension of Spillman Plaza that would improve pedestrian access. Guy Walker of Lighthouse Properties said renderings show the hotel behind Old Chicago with a parking garage immediately north, and that the franchise agreement is currently for 80 rooms with an allowance to adjust by about 20 percent.
City staff said a new parking garage was essential to the concept. Jacob (city staff) told commissioners the administration has been working with Lighthouse Properties on project design and potential funding. City staff described a financing approach that would rely on incremental tax revenues captured in specially created districts rather…
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