Tristan Wood
The Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board voted unanimously to extend the project completion deadline Thursday for the long-delayed Washington Square Hotel project by another 24 months if certain conditions are met.
The CRA, whose board consists of Tallahassee’s city commissioners, had previously entered into an agreement with Fairmont Development LLC that would have given the 270-room hotel project $9.6 million in returned taxes if it was completed by March 8, 2022. The project deadline has now been moved to 2024 if several stipulations on the project are met in the next six months.
There has been no activity on the project since December 2019, amassing $29,537 in city fines for environmental permit violations. Ken McDermott, the owner of the site, requested the extension by arguing that unanticipated events — like a disagreement with Tallahassee regarding the Eastside Garage Easement and the COVID-19 pandemic — delayed the project.
McDermott said due to the pandemic, investor Loews Hotels backed out of the project. However, he told the board the project has since received new investors, who he was unable to disclose to the board due to non-disclosure agreements. He said construction on the site can begin by this summer.
While the board voted to extend the deadline, the extension is conditional on McDermott paying all city fines, providing proof the project has full financing and starting construction by Sept. 1, 2022. The extension also is six months shorter than McDermott’s request.
Before the vote, commissioners signaled the conditions were required to ensure progress is made after the past delays on the project.
Commissioner Jeremy Matlow said the project’s history made him want more assurances the project actually is on the road to being resumed.
“Regardless of where we go on this, we have a half-built project in the middle of downtown,” Matlow said.
Mayor John Dailey, who specifically requested the three conditions, said they were necessary to ensure the CRA isn’t blindly supporting continuation for the project.
“I’m not quite ready to go on the complete faith walk,” Dailey said.
Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox, who pushed to shorten the extension timeline, said it could be extended again in the future if real progress is being made. However, she is unhappy with how the project has progressed over the past several years.
“You have had years to do some things downtown with that building,” she said. “I have been very disappointed, and then today you are asking us to trust you.”
