BEAUMONT, Texas — New life could soon be coming to Hotel Beaumont downtown. City council voted unanimously to authorize the city manager to enter into an agreement with Beaumont Developers, LLC for economic development incentives. The developer plans to turn the historic hotel into a 138 room Hampton Inn.
Hotel Beaumont was built in 1922, and operated until 1977 when it became a senior assisted living residence until 2011. It's been closed ever since.
The city will offer the developers up to seven years of property tax abatement, and could also waive permitting fees, according to the director of planning and community development, Chris Boone. The incentives fall under the "Neighborhood Empowerment Zone Program." It's purpose is to attract new businesses to the area, and encourage the redevelopment or growth of existing businesses and residences.
The council has been trying for three decades to get a hotel to locate downtown, according to Boone. They've been trying to redo the infrastructure, parks, and develop places like the Event Center. He hopes the tax breaks will help bring the hotel project to fruition.
"Basically we're looking at every opportunity to offer and economic incentive to make this project happen," Boone said.
The city feels that the two main missing pieces from downtown are residential and hotels. Boone said the Hampton would make a great addition to the existing theaters and museums.
While some may argue the location couldn't support a 138 room hotel, Boone believes they should have no trouble booking rooms. The location right off of I10 has about 110 thousand cars driving by daily. He also mentioned the nearby plants, port, federal and local court, Lamar, the event center, and the civic center. Boone feels this, along with the likelihood of Mardi Gras coming to Beaumont next year are enough for the hotel to do very well. The city offers similar incentives to residential developers.
Pour Brothers Brewery is one example of a downtown location who has received incentives through the same program. Boone said the new business should open next week.
To qualify for the incentives, the downtown businesses would need an investment of at least 75 thousand dollars. They're looking for developers interested in building office spaces, residential, hotels, craft breweries, etc.
"It's pretty flexible, we're always welcome and eager to talk to folks about redevelopment of downtown," Boone said.
The city has been working for a long time to redevelop downtown. They hit a setback after Harvey, but Boone said they're back on track. He said there's lots of good things happening downtown, and the new hotel only adds to it.
The sale of the buildings hasn't closed yet, but is expected to within the next couple of months. The developer plans to start construction in September of next year, and open in January of 2022.