Brownwood News – The Brownwood City Council on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 acted to approve incentives for a new hotel in Brownwood.

The Council authorized the director of Brownwood Municipal Development District to negotiate and enter into a contract with AJA Development, LLC for the development and construction of the hotel at 315 East Commerce (shown in photo).  The 2.5-acre plot of land currently is a vacant lot that is behind Studebaker’s Café and Grill or between Studebaker’s and the parking lot of Tractor Supply.

Under terms of the incentive, the BMDD will pay up to $675,000 to develop the site.  “The cash incentive that the BMDD approved is to be applied to the development challenges of the site.  It’s in the flood plain and it has a storm drain in the middle of it.  That’s typically what the model has been in the past for retail development in that area … that we help the developers overcome those development costs,” said Ray Tipton, BMDD Executive Director.  “The way we’re going to structure it is that we will reimburse him (developer) up to the approved amount so it could be a lot less.  We’re going to reimburse on actual cost and we’ll verify those through the process,” Tipton said.  The agreement will also include 65% of hotel occupancy tax rebates for up to seven years and all permits to be waived relating to construction for up to $20,000.

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Tipton said the developer does not specifically know what hotel brand is going to go there but he has a couple of ideas.  “We’re going to leave it to him to announce that, but he’s applied for a specific franchise he’s trying to get,” Tipton said.  Expectations are that the developer will close on the property in March and possibly begin development late this summer.  It will be an estimated 18 months in the construction phase making completion of the project in late 2021, Tipton said.