MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City last night approved a development agreement for the hotel portion of the River City Renaissance project.
The city had been working on finalizing an agreement with ES 2024 Mason City Hotel Associates, a limited liability corporation connected to Kinseth Hospitality Corporation, since the city last August executed a purchase agreement that outlined the process of constructing a $15 million extended stay hotel connected to Music Man Square.
The development agreement has three key parts: a 100% tax rebate for the first five years and 50% for the last five years; a $2 million loan with 4% interest but no interest for the first three years; and a $2 million loan guarantee.
City Administrator Aaron Burnett says now that the council has approved the agreement, the next step is finalizing the closing and start construction. “We are at the end. We are ready to go to closing. The intent is to close as quickly as possible. There are a lot of moving pieces for them to finalize the closing, but yeah, we’re going to close here in the next few weeks and then get to construction in August.”
Councilman Tim Latham says he’s glad the hotel project is finally moving forward. “I just want to make comment that I’m glad this is happening, that it’s been a lot of years. I think this is great. I think the people that we are dealing with are legit, and I look forward to having a groundbreaking.”
Kinseth Hospitality has indicated that they plan to start construction on the hotel in mid-August.
