Downtown hotel developer shelves Couryard Marriott project (Savannah, Gordon: 2013, hotels)

[Airforceguy]

Augusta Riverfront LLC President Paul Simon said the cost estimate for the seven-story, business-class hotel that was first announced in late 2016 has made the 114,000-square-foot project economically impractical.

Simon would not disclose the hotel’s projected cost, but said Augusta’s year-round 60 percent occupancy rate would not justify the price, which he says has been inflated by downtown’s recent construction boom.

“When the final numbers came in, the pro forma earnings were not sufficient to justify the cost,” Simon said. “It doesn’t make economic sense for us right now, but hopefully it will as we move down the road.”

The hotel was proposed to occupy the corner of James Brown Boulevard and Reynolds Street, the site of the former Augusta Police Department building.

Augusta Riverfront LLC is the privately held company that developed the adjacent Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center in 1992, and is the contract operator for the co-located city-owned convention and exhibit hall facilities.

If completed, the Courtyard would have linked to the convention center parking deck via pedestrian bridge across James Brown Boulevard. A second pedestrian bridge spanning Reynolds Street would connect the deck to the convention center facility, which underwent a $50 million, 115,000-square-foot expansion in 2013.

Simon said he was unsure when the Courtyard project would move forward, but said it would likely be after the company could gauge the economic impact of other major downtown projects. Those include the nearby Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Center for Innovation and Training, the proposed $93 million mixed-use development on city-owned property along the riverfront and the baseball park-anchored Riverside Village development across the Savannah n downtown North Augusta.

Downtown hotel developer shelves Couryard Marriott project - News - The Augusta Chronicle - Augusta, GA

[burr]

It appears that the 'new augusta chronicle' online version has taken all these articles away from view and review. when I clicked on past articles relevent to this subject, it went to the front page of todays paper, not the intended article relative to the subject of the post. Is it me ?

[AUGnative]

If I remember correctly, Paul Simon convinced the city to build the parking deck largely on the promise of this hotel.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by burr

It appears that the 'new augusta chronicle' online version has taken all these articles away from view and review. when I clicked on past articles relevent to this subject, it went to the front page of todays paper, not the intended article relative to the subject of the post. Is it me ?

Probably a result of their latest redesign breaking links to old stories. They can't seem to settle on a design and stick with it. Though I do tend to like this one better than the last.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by AUGnative

If I remember correctly, Paul Simon convinced the city to build the parking deck largely on the promise of this hotel.

I remember Countyman...er...Nortonguy...er...Whole Augusta being pretty hyped up on that pedestrian bridge, too.


I can't say I blame him for putting it on hold, given the number of hotels who beat him to the punch that are currently going up in the vicinity. But then again, it's his fault for waiting this long.

[AUGnative]

I seriously do not see the demand for all these hotels in downtown. Outside of The Masters, a lot of your hotel traffic is from contractors at Fort Gordon and construction workers. I doubt many of them are staying downtown. I can see the demand for hotels along I20 but I would think that downtown has a glut of hotel rooms. I wonder what the avg occupancy rate is? I just do not see Augusta becoming a big convention destination.

[amlovingit]

60-65%