Photo by Cathy ChedrawiWilliamson County commissioners approved amendments to an agreement May 15 that could help bring a hotel and conference center to Georgetown.
If other agreements with entities are approved, the hotel and conference center would be located within The Summit at Rivery Park, a planned development near Rivery Boulevard and residential development The Brownstone at The Summit.
Jeff Novak, a principal of Brae Group LTD, the developer of The Summit at Rivery Park, said developers are in negotiations with a hotel group.
"This can truly be a destination conference center, not just to service Georgetown, but all of Williamson County, and bring people here from Travis County and everywhere else," he said.
Novak said if agreements with the city, county and developers are approved, the project could break ground in December or January and would take 16 to 18 months to complete.
The project has been planned since 2007, but Marlene McMichael, spokeswoman for The Summit at Rivery Park, said the economy stalled plans until now.
In 2007, the City of Georgetown created the Rivery Park Reinvestment Zone, a geographic area of about 32 acres. The county later entered into the agreement in 2008. Within this zone, property taxes are capped at a certain assessed property value.
As the property value increases through its development, any taxes collected above the set assessed value go into a fund for projects within the boundaries of the zone.
The amendments to the document approved May 15 included moving the construction completion date from November 2011 to September 2015, taking The Brownstone at The Summit out of the Rivery Park Reinvestment Zone and reducing the size of the zone from 32 to 24 acres.
The Georgetown City Council could also approve the reinvestment zone agreement amendments at its May 22 meeting.
In August, the city approved sending a letter to a hotel developer giving notice of its intent to issue bonds for a conference center.
Micki Rundell, chief financial officer for the City of Georgetown, said the plan is, pending council approval, for the city to own the conference center and to finance it through bonds, which would be paid back through revenue from the site.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said that although design of the conference center is still in the conceptual phase, the county has requested that it be able to seat a minimum of 1,500 people so that large events can be held in the area.
"We felt like we needed [it] back in 2008, and still feel that we need today," she said. "It will be a part of the hotel, and it will be something that will generate economic development and other things here."
