Aug. 30–The best proposal the city of Frederick received for a downtown hotel and conference center was for a Marriott hotel at the old site of The Frederick News-Post, according to a city committee.
The Downtown Frederick Hotel Advisory Committee is recommending that Mayor Randy McClement and the Board of Aldermen move forward with a proposal from Plamondon Hospitality Partners to build a $64 million, 207-room hotel with about 23,500 square feet of meeting space at the site at 200 and 212 E. Patrick St., according to a document posted to the city’s website.
The committee thinks Plamondon’s proposal is strong because, in summary, Plamondon is a strong company with a good relationship with Marriott, the location and site plan are strong, the project will have a positive economic impact, and the plan includes a significant private investment and a willingness to work with the city on a public-private financing structure that will have no impact on residents’ taxes, the document states.
The mayor and board will review the recommendation during their workshop at 3 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall. If the elected officials give their consent, the committee will begin negotiating with Plamondon for a public-private partnership. The design and details will need to go through all normal city staff and commission approvals.
The committee spent the last few months reviewing two proposals for the project, one from Plamondon and the other from The Wormald Cos. for a $65 million, 225-room hotel with about 17,000 square feet of meeting space on the Galleria property on East Street. These were the only two proposals the city received by its deadline in May.
The city issued the request for proposals in February after realizing a need for a full-service downtown hotel and conference center to serve residents, businesses, tourism and economic development. The city also realized, after a study, that any developer would need help to make the project profitable.
City staff has said the only public dollars that will fund the hotel will be tax revenue generated by the project itself, and those funds would pay only for public portions of the project, such as parking and the conference center.
Representatives of Plamondon and Wormald Cos. did not return calls or emails for comment Friday afternoon.
Members of the Randall family, who own the News-Post site under the name 200 East Patrick Street LLC, are excited to hear that the committee is recommending the site, said Ted Gregory, chief financial officer of Randall Family LLC, the company that owns the newspaper.
“Plamondon is a great business partner, and we look forward to the hotel providing a great amenity for downtown Frederick,” Gregory said.
Plamondon’s plan is to preserve and renovate the front of the main building on the site, which was built by the Frederick Railroad Co. in 1910 as a trolley terminal and office building. Owners of The News-Post acquired the building in the 1960s.
Gregory said the current plan, as he understands it, is to use the front of the building, the old “car barn,” for retail and office space, and integrate it into the rest of the project.
The plan uses the entire 2.6-acre site, with access from Carroll Creek and the street, he said.
Along with the hotel rooms and conference space, the new LEED-certified building will contain a 700-person ballroom, two restaurants, a rooftop lounge, terrace dining along Carroll Creek Linear Park, an indoor pool and 104 on-site parking spaces.
The committee gave Plamondon a score of 84 points on a 100-point rating scale, which was the high score by a significant margin, the city document states. The document does not state how many points Wormald’s plan received.
City staff did not return calls or emails Friday afternoon for further details.
The News-Post site has been on the market since the company moved its operations in 2008 to Ballenger Center Drive. In July, the state assessed the 200 address, listed at 41,127 square feet, at $1.3 million. In January, the state assessed the 212 address, listed at 0.9 acres, at $732,400.
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