The Washington Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will meet at City Hall Thursday, March 18, at 10:30 a.m. to consider proposals to build a hotel adjacent to the Pope Center.

Authority Chairman Charles Jackson reported to the Washington City Council last Monday night that the authority had met with Don French of the Somata Group and Al Hill of Gourmet Hospitality Services to get the most complete information possible. “We’re not quite satisfied with the information presented,” Jackson said at the meeting, “so we’re meeting with them again to get the full documentation, and we should be able to decide on what action to recommend by our March 18 meeting.”

Once their decision is made, the URA will recommend a course of action to the Washington City Council, which will then vote on the recommendation.

Jackson, authority vice-chairman Henry Harris and treasurer Toombs McLendon IV have repeatedly said that they are not going to rush into a decision on the possible hotel project. “Being a new authority,” Harris said, “we’ve needed to process a lot of information to get up to speed, and we’re not in any hurry to make a decision one way or the other.”

Representatives from groups proposing to build a hotel at the Pope Center have all stated that such a hotel had the potential to be successful, but would require an occupancy rate of between 50 and 60 percent to succeed.

Due to tight credit during the current recession, banks require a guarantee backed by the City of Washington to loan money on any hotel project. A hotel project would require several million dollars in revenue bonds to be issued by the city, and taxpayers have expressed concern that they would be stuck with any losses on such a project.

Other taxpayers have pointed out that the Lexington Avenue location of the Pope Center, more than six blocks from The Square, makes the success of a hotel and convention center even less likely.

In the Thursday meeting, the Urban Redevelopment Authority will also get an update on the former NAPA Building Phase II Environmental Testing, hear of an economic development prospect for a possible brownfield site, and act on a City of Washington Community Development Block Grant involving the acceptance of a property for redevelopment. The authority is also expected to consider establishment of a financial system for the processing of funding.