Columbia City Council approves extended deadline for new Broadway Hotel tower

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council voted 5-2 Monday night in favor of extending the deadline to complete construction for a second tower at the Broadway Hotel in downtown Columbia.

Back in February 2020, City Council members voted to extend the construction deadline from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 of this year. Last night a second extension was approved, pushing the deadline once again to Dec. 31, 2024.

The owner, David Parmley, said the original delay was due to some rights of use agreements that had to be worked out with the city, which took more time than expected. He cited the COVID-19 pandemic for this second delay.

Mayor Brian Treece was not in favor of the second extension. He expressed concerns over the project’s use of public subsidies.

"Just last week planning and zoning granted approval for another downtown hotel that is being built without any public subsidies and that's money that comes from out public schools, you know extending this for another 3 years after there has already been one extension prior to the pandemic doesn't seem reasonable to me," Treece said.

The council approved a plan in 2018 for the hotel to keep some of the sales tax revenue it generates. 

The second tower is expected to be built at 1104 E. Walnut Street. Council documents show the seven-story building will take up about 73,000 square feet of space.

The other hotel Treece mentioned was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this month. That six-story hotel would be located at the corner of Cherry and Hitt streets.