THOMASVILLE — Thomasville Payroll Development (PDA) heard three presentations Monday morning for developing the former Roses property.

The City of Thomasville purchased the property — at South Dawson Street and Remington Avenue — for $1.8 million in 2013. City council recently transferred the tract to the PDA.

John Bennett of Windcrest Investments, a Thomasville company, represented Paramount, an Atlanta developer and manager of hotel properties. 

Bennett, a Thomasville resident, said Paramount has experience working with small towns, pointing out hotel projects in LaGrange, Rome and Carrollton. The company also handles “higher-density housing,” such as townhouses, Bennett said.

Monica Hagewood, owner of Moxietowns in Atlanta, spoke on behalf of a group of local investors named Piney Woods Commons LLC and said a development by her company would be Southern throughout.

“Your guests will not wake up and think they might be in Cincinnati,” she told the PDA.

In addition to a boutique hotel, a Moxietowns development would have townhomes and an events center, with parking throughout.

Hagewood said a boutique hotel is designed to encourage people to return repeatedly.

Jeremy Emmett, representing Southern Lodging LLC, a Thomasville company, said his firm owns the Hampton Inn in Thomasville, which has 80 percent occupancy.

“Thomasville places strongly in occupancy,” Emmett said.

Corporate and leisure lodging is desired here, adding that his company would put a Marriott hotel at the site.

Emmett showed a modern Marriott Courtyard facade, then Courtyard facades in Savannah and Nashville, Tennessee, fitting the cities’ local historic styles.

Citing the city’s 2018 comp plan calling for a downtown hotel to draw tourism, Emmett said Southern Lodging has raised more than $5 million in capital for the project. Thomasville’s historical past could be incorporated into the hotel, Emmett said. 

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820