South MS city pins hopes on hotel developer who faces debt over failed project | Latest Travel News
An Alabama resident who has confronted legal woes over his hotel developments there has inked an settlement to deliver a Hilton or Marriott to the city of Gautier’s Town Center.
The Gautier City Council just lately voted unanimously to promote 2.9 acres to Anand Patel at the previous Singing River Mall property. Gautier needs to develop a Town Center and has been making an attempt for years to lure builders to the property. The mall closed in 2014.
The Legislature gave the city $5 million to buy the 55 acres and also handed a particular law for Gautier that permits the city to promote mall property at below market worth for development as long as it creates financial growth and advantages the neighborhood.
Patel pays $1,000 for the land, a real estate gross sales settlement says. He has 90 days before closing to full property feasibility research. The parcel Patel is shopping for sits to the west and north of Belk division store, the only remnant of the mall and a parcel owned by Belk.
Gautier is hoping to parlay public investments — including a close by live performance amphitheater and a songwriters peforming arts middle under construction — into a bustling hub that would come with eating places and the hotel.
For the hotel, the city has chosen to do business with a developer who was sued in Alabama, along with associates, over money owed totaling around $3 million. Four federal circumstances filed in 2015 and 2016 against Patel and associates element a loan default, failure to pay franchise charges on resorts and major fire-code violations at one of the resorts.
Patel and his father still owe $529,711 to Edgefield Holdings LLC, a current court submitting in Alabama exhibits. Edgefield has enrolled the debt in Mississippi, which suggests Edgefield may attempt to accumulate from any property Patel establishes in this state. The Patels defaulted on the debt more than 10 years in the past, court data show.
Gautier’s city supervisor and mayor say they relied on consultants Blackwater Development Co. LLC to vet Patel’s proposal. Mayor Casey Vaughan said he was acquainted with a Sun Herald article that detailed Patel’s legal points in Alabama and requested that due diligence be accomplished on Patel’s proposal before it was authorised.
City Manager Paula Yancey said she doesn’t know a lot about Patel. “I know he owns a bunch of hotels,” she said. Blackwater’s president, John Abernathy, said he wouldn’t remark on his consumer’s “business matter.”
Patel approached the city about Town Center property for a hotel, Yancey said. She said the city is protected by its gross sales settlement with Patel. It says he must develop a Hilton or Marriott hotel. The hotel must be accomplished, absolutely staffed and open for business 18 months after closing, the settlement says. Otherwise, the city can reclaim the property.
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