The Auburn City Council agreed Tuesday to move forward with a large development on North College Street that would include a Southern Living hotel and a new parking deck downtown.
The Council approved a memorandum of understanding, or an MOU, which essentially outlines what each party is responsible for as the city moves foward developing a more formal and binding agreement with the developers, according to City Manager Jim Buston.
The Southern Living hotel would be built on the lots currently housing Quixotes, University Inn, the Baptist Student Center, down to the current Regions Bank and going back to Wright Street from College Street. The hotel is slated to be 75-feet tall including a rooftop bar, Buston said.
It would include around 120 rooms and possibly two restaurants, one of which would be Southern Living branded and another proposed restaurant.
Buston said the proposed parking deck is a given as the project moves forward, even if the Southern Living hotel doesn't materialize.
“We’re building a parking deck no matter what,” Buston said.
A public parking deck, which was slated to include between 300-350 public parking spaces, will take over the area where the Baptist Student Center and University Inn currently sit.
If the hotel does materialize, then they will want to lease 170 parking spaces in the deck from the city. If this happens, then the city hopes to get 586 spaces total, including those dedicated to the hotel.
A new Baptist Student Center will have their own space in the bottom of the deck along with 15 dedicated parking spaces, Buston said. Regions Bank will also have 15 dedicated spaces. So, with signing the MOU with the Southern Living brand, the city will get 386 public spaces instead of only maximum 350 they had originally planned.
The current maximum allowable height of 75 feet in the downtown area is largely a result of the planned hotel. The Council earlier this year approved an increase in the height limit largely to accommodate the planned hotel.
The group also has other Southern Living hotel proposals in Birmingham and Oxford, Mississippi.
“We realize the character and the history of the town,” Bill Shoaf, the CEO and president of Lifestyle + Hotel Group, said earlier this year. “And we will work hand in hand to deliver something that we can all be proud of.”
Another piece of the space will be commercial, but it has not yet been announced.
"I think it will be something everyone will appreciate,” Buston said.
After everything is agreed to, the design for the hotel will go through the Design Review Committee. It consists of two architects from the University, one citizen and two staff members, and since it is downtown, they will be urged to meet the criteria of the Design Review Committee, Buston said, though the Design Review Committee doesn't have legal approval authority.
The Southern Living hotel comes at a time when the average height of buildings in Auburn's downtown area is getting taller. A new University culinary arts center is slated to be one of the tallest buildings in the area at around 80 feet, just shorter than the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.
Since the University is a state institution, protected by the state's Constitution, they do not have to abide by the city ordinances on University-owned property.
The hotel and parking deck were hot topics at the City Council meeting Tuesday night as a number of Auburn residents came forward to express strong feelings about the project.
Some said the Council, which Tuesday night included at least six members who were at their last meeting, should table the development so many of the questions about it can be answered fully and sufficiently.
Only Ward 3 Councilwoman Beth Witten, Mayor-elect Ron Anders and Ward 8 Councilman Tommy Dawson will remain on the Council after Oct. 9's election.
“Make no mistake, I am excited about this hotel,” said Ward 5 Councilwoman Lynda Tremaine. "I think we’re all excited. It certainly will be a huge improvement, but just the design of it, there’s so many questions."
“Downtown is important to everyone," said Eric Stamp, a business owner in downtown Auburn. "We can take our time, figure it out and do it right."
With the new council members taking their seats along with Anders as mayor on Nov. 5., some speakers said the Council should hold back so the new members of Council will have a complete view of the project.
“The new council will be the final authority on this," Anders said. "I can promise you that the new council will have plenty of time to understand this project."
The memorandum of understanding, though it passed, is not legally binding, and now the project needs a development agreement between the city, Harvest Capital Group LLC, the developer, and Godbold Development Partners LLC.
“The MOU is for transparency for the citizens,” Buston said.
After this stage, the city will know exact numbers for the hotel and parking deck including the number of rooms, parking spaces and square footage. It's also possible the plan could fall through between the memorandum and development agreement stages.
“You’ll see me support [the hotel] whether you like it or not,” said Mayor Bill Ham said.
It wouldn't be the first time that's happened. In 2016, the city scrapped plans to partner with a private developer to build a six-story boutique-style hotel, urban grocery and parking deck on the location of the current North Gay Street Municipal Parking Deck.
The city was unable to reach a deal with the developer that met the Council's conditions. That project was slightly different because the development would have been a public-private partnership on city land. The project could have included an urban grocery — like Whole Foods, Sprouts, The Fresh Market or Trader Joes — and a new parking deck touting 730 spaces.
The public-private partnership brokered by city officials would have had the developer pay a $10-per-month rent for the land on which the parking deck would sit in return for the private developer bearing the full cost for construction the multimillion-dollar parking deck. The land under the grocery and hotel would have been deeded to the developer, along with several conditions.
In total, that project would have saved the city more than $10 million on building a new, larger parking deck downtown. Officials have said the current Gay Street parking deck will still need to be replaced within the next decade.
The Auburn City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chamber at 141 N. Ross St.
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