MOULTRIE — How would Moultrie look with a hotel downtown?

Moultrie City Council members are pondering that question after a presentation Tuesday evening by Jeremy Emmett of Red Hills Hospitality Management.

Red Hills is the force behind the Courtyard by Marriott in Thomasville as well as projects in Bainbridge, Acworth and elsewhere. City Manager Pete Dillard and members of the city staff have been working on the proposal alongside Emmett, and some councilmen have been involved too, but Tuesday was the first time it was presented at a council meeting.

Dillard said a downtown hotel was initially proposed in January 2018. The council gave money to the Downtown Development Authority to purchase property on First Street and First Avenue Northeast, but after years of issues the city parted ways with the developer without a hotel ever being built.

Emmett said he had contacted the city years ago, only to find the City of Moultrie was under contract with the other developer. When he learned that deal had fallen through, he reached out again.

Dillard asked the council for two things relative to the project:

First, a series of engineering studies are required. He estimated the most they would cost would be $50,000, but the city would have to pay this money up front.

Second, Dillard proposed a bond sale to raise $20 million that the city would invest in the project. Red Hills would kick in $5 million of their own money, and they’d pay the city back over 25 years. This would include reimbursement for the studies.

Councilman Cole Posey, who is Moultrie market president for Colony Bank, said municipal bonds are more or less required for hospitality projects like this because the loans are riskier than average. In spite of that, he said Colony Bank supports the project.

“My bank loves this project,” Posey said, “and we don’t like hospitality projects.”

During Tuesday’s work session, the council gave approval for City Attorney Mickey Waller to get more information about the bond process.

During the regular meeting, however, council support for the hotel proposal was grouped under the consent agenda, which includes items that are approved with a single vote. The consent agenda passed 4 votes to 0 (two councilmen were absent). This authorized paying for the engineering studies and proceeding with the steps to issue the bonds, Dillard said afterward.

In the work session, Dillard told council members that the hotel chain involved in the project would be Marriott. Feasibility studies estimated the hotel would bring in $4.3 million per year in revenue. The city could expect to receive utility sales, hotel/motel tax, sales tax and property tax totaling about $528,000 per year, Dillard said. The hotel would employ the full time equivalent of 25 people, and Dillard said 90% or more of them would be local people.

The hotel would be located on the same land the Downtown Development Authority bought in 2018 for the hotel project that never materialized, Dillard said. The vacant lot is across the street from the Moultrie Municipal Building on one side and Luke Strong and Son Mortuary on another.

The size of the bond gave the city attorney pause. Waller said the city can pay only 3 mills worth of tax receipts on loans. The size of the bond could limit the city borrowing money for a future need, he said.

Also at Tuesday’s city council meeting, councilmen approved a plan for a new subdivision with apartments and more than 100 houses. Read that story here.