A $63 million luxury hotel proposed near the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will face a tougher road to a city incentive package after a big rejection on Thursday.
The Tax Increment Financing Commission of Kansas City voted 8-3 to deny a request for a massive incentive package after six months of delays that the panel offered to the developer in an effort to generate agreement among all concerned parties. The development team is led by Whitney Kerr Sr. of Cushman & Wakefield and Eric Holtze of Denver-based EJ Holtze Corp. The hotel would be built near 16th and Wyandotte streets.
The project advances to the City Council, but because the TIF Commission did not recommend the plan, it now requires a super majority on the council to advance, meaning the support of nine of 12 members. That will be a challenge with the newly elected council members.
TIF Commission rejections are rare, and the denial reflected months of concerns about shifting numbers and facts, as well as disagreements between the developer and the taxing jurisdictions affected by the proposed property tax abatement. The incentive would divert property taxes on increases in value to the developer to offset costs.
Read the rest of the story in the Kansas City Business Journal.
