Conference Center could soon have its own hotel

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the developer involved with the project. Newcrest Hospitality, which is working with the city on the hotel venture, is not affiliated with Texas-based NewcrestImage.

Gastonia leaders are moving forward on a long-awaited plan to develop a hotel directly beside the city-owned events complex that has operated downtown for eight years.

An entity known as Newcrest Hospitality has been talking with city leaders for some time about the concept. The firm sees potential in the land that now hosts a surface parking lot on the south side of the Gastonia Conference Center, fronting West Franklin Boulevard. It wants to begin shopping that site to branded hotel chains in an effort to secure a development deal.

The proposal calls for building a six-story, 120-room hotel with a restaurant, bar and first-floor lobby. The hotel would also have a direct interior connection to the conference center on the second floor.

“This is very preliminary and is the first step in a long process,” said Gastonia Economic Development Director Kristy Crisp. “We hope this is something we’ll be able to solidify in the next six months.”

Three City Council members who sit on Gastonia’s Facilities Management Committee will consider the proposal during a meeting Tuesday night. The matter will then go before the full council next month.

The brand that Newcrest is primarily pursuing involves the Hilton hotel line, according to a draft of the agreement being considered.

Hotel always envisioned

From the time that Gastonia leaders began planning to build a downtown events complex more than a decade ago, their ultimate vision always included a conventional hotel going up beside it. But the market wasn’t ready for that complete plan in 2011, when the $10 million, 30,000-square-foot Gastonia Conference Center opened at 145 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way., with a three-level parking deck behind it.

“Leaving space for a hotel was obviously the plan all along, which is why the property and the building was developed the way it is,” Crisp said.

A surface parking lot was built on the south side of the events center, to make productive use of the real estate in the meantime. In recent years, city officials have been marketing the property and trying to recruit a hotel developer, and Newcrest Image recently emerged as a front-runner.

At this point, Gastonia leaders are being asked to approve a ‘memorandum of understanding,’ with Newcrest. With that in hand, the company can begin soliciting interest from potential hotel brands.

Once the brand is secured, city staff will establish a formal economic development agreement with Newcrest, and negotiate a deal to sell the land beside the conference center for development of a hotel, said Crisp.

“It is very exciting to be at a place now where we can see the beginning of some potential for the hotel site,” she said.

The entire conference center property takes up roughly two acres, and the surface parking lot where a hotel would be built accounts for a little less than an acre of that.

The agreement being considered by the city dictates various responsibilities of both the city and Newcrest. The city, for example, will have the property surveyed and appraised, to establish the fair market value of the parking lot. The city will also come up with an incentive package for the hotel’s construction that may use monetary grants associated with increased tax revenues, utility service incentives, and the like.

The city would pay for construction of the direct connection between the conference center and hotel on the second floor. The city and Newcrest would then have to agree on a final design and branding for the hotel.

Game changer

The city’s conference center is in its fourth year of being managed by Culinaire, which has substantially improved the facility’s quarterly financial performance since 2015. While strides have been made, Conference Center General Manager Gerry Durkee has consistently championed the idea of establishing a moderately priced hotel beside the events complex. He believes it would open up new avenues of business, helping to secure more holiday parties, association gatherings and multi-day corporate meetings.

The closest cluster of branded hotels to downtown Gastonia is three miles away on Remount Road. Durkee said they work closely with those local hotels to secure business and make things as convenient as possible for customers. But a typical conference or convention center with its own lodging can offer that meeting space for free, as a perk, if a client reserves a large block of overnight rooms.

The long and the short of it is that a downtown hotel would benefit not only the conference center, he said, but other entities in the historic business district as well.

“I can tell you I’m very excited about the idea,” said Durkee. “And I think downtown will be very excited about the idea as well.”

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.