Sheraton hotel, conference center to break ground in 2013
After more than five years and a downturn in the economy that delayed plans for the The Summit at Rivery Park, developers announced a four-star Sheraton hotel will be built on the site.
Developer Jeff Novak of Novak Brothers made the announcement Nov. 14 to the Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corporation board. The hotel will be the first four-star hotel in Georgetown and will increase the number of hotel rooms by nearly half.
"We are pleased by the announcement," City Manager Paul Brandenburg said. "This is going to be a huge economic engine for not only the city, but the region. We are committed to it and are moving forward."
The approximately $60 million hotel will feature 225 rooms, a pool, fitness center, parking garage and a 53,000-square-foot conference center. The conference center would be able to seat up to 2,500 people, Novak said.
"It's been a long time coming, and obviously it has momentum now," Brandenburg said. "It could be a huge economic engine for the area. It makes Georgetown a destination—visitors will come here. It's property tax, sales tax, motel/hotel tax, job creation—all those positive things, especially with that size."
Georgetown Economic Development Director Mark Thomas said the conference center would allow large meetings to be hosted in the city for the first time.
Novak said construction on the infrastructure for the commercial sites, including roads and utilities, is expected to start in January.
"That's really kind of the impetus for the hotel," Novak said. "We can't start construction on the hotel until we deliver a developed site that has utilities and all the things you need to build on a site."
Construction on the hotel could begin in summer 2013 and be completed by September 2015, he said.
"It's probably a four-month to five-month timeline to deliver the roads and utilities, and that's what's driving the timeline to break ground on the hotel," Novak said.
City partnership
Novak said the development group is still negotiating final agreements with the city, which will own the conference center, if the financing method is approved by City Council.
"We've gotten everything done that we need to get done, and now it's up to ironing out our agreements with the city and the county. Those things are the last piece of the puzzle," Novak said.
Brandenburg said the city has six different agreements with the developers including the operating and sales contract agreements for the conference center, which could be brought to council in early 2013.
"The whole exchange of the conference center and the [parking] garage—there are a lot of moving parts with this," Brandenburg said. "There is a lot of work that still needs to be drafted and crafted, so that is the next stage that we are in."
The city is expected to purchase the conference center using revenue from the site through the city's tax increment reinvestment zone that covers about 24 acres of the property and does not include The Brownstone at The Summit portion of the development.
Within this zone, property taxes the city and county collect are capped at what the assessed property value was when the zone became effective in 2008. Taxes collected above that point go into a fund for projects within the zone's boundaries.
Georgetown's Domain
Plans for The Summit at Rivery Park also include 80,000 square feet of retail space, 20,000 square feet of restaurant space and 223 high-end multifamily units. Novak said the project could also include medical and office space.
Novak and his brother, Jack, have been involved with the project for several years and are also the developers of The Brownstone at The Summit.
Jack Novak purchased the bank note on the property after the original investors ran out of money and could not complete the development, he said.
"I bought the property with the idea that Jeff and I would do something really cool with it—something that would outlast us in Georgetown," Jack Novak said. "We want it to be first-class, first-rate and something cool for Georgetown."
Jack Novak said he has had interest from restaurants similar to Pappas Bros. Steakhouse and Pappasito's Cantina.
"We've had a lot of interest from some exclusively Austin boutique shops and restaurants that were excited about having an opportunity to bring to Georgetown and also some local Georgetown shops that would like to move from where they are in Georgetown to a place like this," Novak said. "The real impetus of getting that stuff done is the foot traffic and the people, so that hotel is kind of the big-box [facility] of the development. It's the key piece of the development."
The commercial portion of the project is in its final platting stage, which Novak said he expects to have completed in January.
"We are in the design phase right now of what that's going to look like as far as architectural design and livability of that portion of our site," Novak said. "We want it to be a really cool, walkable [The] Domain–type of feel for us here in Georgetown."
