Mason City downtown hotel project moving forward despite delay in development agreement terms

MASON CITY — City of Mason City leaders say a proposed development agreement for the downtown hotel that’s part of the River City Renaissance Project was pulled from last night’s City Council agenda to allow for some changes in the agreement, but they emphasize that the remainder of the work on the project continues to move forward.

The agreement with ES 2024 Mason City Hotel Associates LLC, which is part of Kinseth Hospitality Companies, is proposed to help with the construction of a four-story, 80-room hotel with an indoor pool and connection to Music Man Square via the Delaware Avenue Skywalk.

During the “Ask the Mayor” podcast published earlier this morning at northiowanow.com, Mayor Bill Schickel said the delay will not significantly impact the goal of starting construction in the coming months.  “Our team is negotiating with the team from Kinseth, and some changes in the national economic outlook, we’re looking at modifying some of those incentives there. We feel confident of keeping this on track and we’ll be back with a public hearing in the near future.”

Schickel says Kinseth is a proven partner that’s dedicated to the completion of the hotel project.  “People from Kinseth have a solid reputation, and this is a $15 million investment that they are making in our community. The reason they are locating here is the resurgence we’ve seen in downtown Mason City. The City Council did take action last night on modifying our investment district there so we can provide some of those incentives.”

The hotel design was considered on Tuesday by the city’s Development Review Committee and other necessary approvals continue through the city processes.