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McDowell County and Marion move to back downtown hotel with joint incentive agreement
Summary
After a public hearing, the McDowell County Board of Commissioners voted to proceed with a joint city-county incentive package to support a proposed 4-story Marriott hotel on North Main Street in Marion. The developer says the project would be a roughly $15–$20 million investment with about 75–100 rooms and at least 10 full-time jobs.
McDowell County commissioners voted on Jan. 13 to proceed with a joint incentive package with the City of Marion to support the redevelopment of a downtown Marion property into a four-story Marriott-branded hotel.
The vote followed a public hearing where county economic development staff and the developer described a project they said would replace a former bank at the corner of Fort and North Main streets with a roughly 75–100-room hotel, ground-floor retail and on-site parking. The developer and county staff described a private development valued at about $15 million to $20 million and said they expect roughly 10 full-time positions at opening.
County economic development consultant Chuck Abernathy and representatives from Benchmade Ventures presented project details during the public hearing that the board required under state law for the proposed incentive. Abernathy said the property is under contract with that contract expiring in about five weeks; staff asked the board to adopt an incentive agreement that would secure the property and structure performance-based payments if the project moves forward.
Why it matters: County and city leaders said…
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