Jackson Jambalaya

Developers struggled for nearly a year but managed to win approval from the Ridgeland Board of Aldermen last week to build two hotels.  The Board approved the construction of a Holiday Inn Express and Hilton Tru hotel on a unanimous vote.  However, the Board also extended a moratorium on hotel construction for another 180 days.  The moratorium will not apply to these two hotels.

New rendering of proposed Holiday Inn Express

Developers originally planned to build three hotels in two buildings on I-55N Frontage Road by West Ridgeland Avenue.  However, the Board of Aldermen forced them to jump through more than a few hoops for nearly a year before approving their plans.

Ridgeland Hospitality,  LLC submitted plans for two five-story buildings that would house a Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Hilton Tru.  It asked for a variance from the city's  height restriction.  The combined occupancy would have been 288 rooms.  The Aldermen refused to approve the variance.  Ridgeland Hospitality redrew the plans to comply with the 48-foot height restriction but to no avail.  The Aldermen instead enacted a 180-day moratorium on hotel construction.

An alderman who works for a competitor, Kerioth Corporation, participated in several of the votes.  While Ridgeland Hospitality met roadblocks, Kerioth got whatever it wanted from the Board for the Township at Colony Park project - TIF's, tax breaks, permits - the works.  Ridgeland Hospitality didn't request any TIF bonds nor were any offered.  It was the only project affected by the moratorium. 

However, the Aldermen were not done moving the goalposts.  The moratorium was scheduled to expire in October so the Board naturally extended it for another thirty days.  Keep in mind that Ridgeland Hospitality had already spent $3 million on the project.  The Ridgeland Tourism Commission also presented to the Board in October a study that stated the supply of hotel rooms in north Ridgeland was limited while the demand was growing.  The occupancy rates averaged 75% and rise to over 90% during the middle of the week.  Post on study. 



The Board forced Ridgeland Hospitality to make more changes to its plans.   Ridgeland Hospitality had to drop the plans for a Holiday Inn and reduce the number of rooms from 288 to 208.  Holiday Inn had to show a commitment to giving the project the "Holiday Inn Express flag" (The current one near County Line Road will lose its flag.).




Ridgeland Hospitality's attorney, Stephen Smith, said at the Board's November 6 work session "It's been a long road."  He pointed out the different treatment given to Kerioth (See video):

Two weeks after the moratorium was adopted, another developer came in and got approval for two new hotels, height variances up to 80 feet, and a sales tax rebate of up to 30% for the entire project. My clients didn't ask for that.  They want to build their project it and let it stand on its own.  They didn't need any kind of TIF money or anything else.....

So far we have done everything anybody asked us to do.  We revised our drawings. We probably added 4 to 5 to $600,000 in material costs. 

The Board approved the project at the November 7 meeting on a 6-0 vote.  Alderman Kevin Holder was absent.

The owners of Ridgeland Hospitality are Chico Patel, Ali Bhatti, Tom Crowson, Todd Reeves, and Bobby Gill.

Original plans before alterations made