Members of the Plymouth Plan Commission considered a resolution the add two projects to the list of projects for Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) District # 3 during their meeting on October 4th.
Plymouth City Attorney Sean Surrisi explained the two projects, one to complete a portion of Commerce Street and the second to support the development of a new hotel to be built in Plymouth.
Surrisi explained the Plan Commissioners’ responsibilities to review and make sure the projects fit within the city’s Comprehensive Plan and meets its goals and are also supportive of economic development.
Board member Beth Pinkerton asked what kind of hotel is planned and Surrisi said the property owner is VanVactor Farms and they have been in negotiations with JSK Hospitality, a new company associated with Plymouth as an LLC. He said JSK owns a lot of hotels around the area including the downtown Marriott and Holiday Inn Express on the south side of South Bend.
Surrisi said A.J. Patel who is the principal with JSK has been negotiating with VanVactor Farms along with the City of Plymouth and the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) for several years on this project.
The hotel brand planned for Plymouth is Hampton Inn. The site is east of the complex where Hacienda and Mancino’s is located.
Commission member Fred Webster asked how many stories and the number of rooms were planned. Surrisi said he believed it was 80 to 90 rooms in a two-story structure.
The Redevelopment Commission’s assistance to the hotel project is $360,000.
Commissioner member Mark Gidley asked about the road improvements to Commerce Street and the city attorney explained the project is west of Pioneer Drive but won’t complete the roadway all the way around, only to the gravel pathway. The new Plymouth Molding Group facility, Harrington Noodles and Pretzels Inc. are located on the section of the street.
Surrisi explained that when PIDCO developed the industrial park they never completed the construction of Commerce Street. Currently, it is still privately owned.
As part of the negotiations between the City of Plymouth, MCEDC, and Pretzels Inc. for their expansion project, Pretzels needed more land a PIDCO agreed to donate a portion of their land to the transaction in exchange for the city completing Commerce Street and accepting it into the city’s street system.
The Plymouth Plan Commission voted 9 – 0 to approve adding the two projects to TIF #3’s project list. The Plymouth City Council will review the two projects and must approve them during their meeting Monday evening and then the Redevelopment Commission will conduct a public hearing on the projects during their October meeting before the projects can officially be added to the project list.
