City has no obligation to get hotel
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 27, 2018 5:50 AM
The city of Goldsboro is not obligated to secure development of a hotel adjacent to the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center.
In its March 2015 contract with Wayne County, the city agreed to donate approximately 12 acres of an 18-acre tract it owned on North Wayne Memorial Drive to the county for the center.
According to the contract, the city retained six of those acres at the corner of New Hope Road and North Wayne Memorial Drive "for the development of a hotel," but it does not specify that the hotel is the city's responsibility.
The contract reads, "If after five years no hotel has been located or no contract to locate a hotel has been signed, the city shall retain three acres at the corner of Wayne Memorial Drive and New Hope Road for a hotel and may use or dispose of the additional three acres as it determines is best for the city."
But just who is responsible for what has been a bone of contention for some Wayne County commissioners in recent months.
That was particularly evident last week when some commissioners chafed at providing $10,000 as the county's part of a $30,000 contract to gather data that hoteliers need to help them make business decisions about developing a hotel.
Commissioners unanimously approved the funding, but Commissioners Joe Daughtery and Wayne Aycock questioned why, citing the agreement that led to the construction of the center and the city's new multi-sports complex and Goldsboro Event Center.
"It was their obligation to get the hotel," Aycock said at the meeting.
The Maxwell Center is there, and the city is saying that the county has to have it now and that "we can choke them all that we want to," he said.
"I think the city will acknowledge that they have dropped the ball," Daughtery said.
City Manager Scott Stevens struck a conciliatory tone when asked about the comments, saying he has since spoken with County Manager Craig Honeycutt to point out that it is not a requirement for the city to either build or get a hotel.
"The requirement is for us to preserve the space," Stevens said. "However, we all believe the hotel to be important. That is why we are doing the collaborative effort on the study otherwise the city should be doing the study all by itself.
"I have said a lot of times over the past year or two, the city and county are working together probably better than they have ever done. I think in this one, we are still working together."
Enlisting professionals in the hotel field for the study is the right step, he said.
The $30,000 is a lot of money, but if it provides what the city and county are after, then it is money well spent, Stevens said.
"I think the relationship between the city and county will continue to be very good," he said. "I hate to speak for the commissioners, but from my side they have a lot of stuff put on them.
"I hope it is just some frustration on their part, and not really being unhappy with the city. We are going to continue to want the hotel there just as badly as they do."
The city's willingness and commitment to tie up six acres of city-owned property shows that city saw the center as an important project, Stevens said.
Stevens said one possibility for the confusion is that both the city council and commissioners go through a ton of information weekly.
"This agreement that we are talking about is from almost three years ago," he said. "It was March of '15, the agreement that really restricted those six acres to have a hotel on them. So I think to remember back and not know the wording exactly is certainly possible."
Stevens said he thinks, too, it is because the hotel is now at the forefront as the county tries to book conventions and has heard the need for the hotel loud and clear.
A monumental step already has been taken just by getting the Maxwell Center built, Wayne County Commission Chairman Bill Pate said.
Pate agreed with Stevens that it has been three years since the agreement was signed and that commissioners look at thousands and thousands of documents annually.
"So it is hard to remember the details of any particular contract," Pate said. "I have talked to everybody, and everybody is cool."
The Maxwell Center is doing so well now that the county is having to schedule appointments for people to come in just to schedule times that they want to use it, Pate said.
"It goes back to my comment that it is still going to be successful, but we all still want the hotel there," Pate said. "The information from this (study) data that we need for whoever might want to build a hotel, you have got to have it. We didn't know when we started this process just how needed this study was."
Pate said he sees the hotel as part of the Maxwell Center project.
"I just think it is important," he said. "It is not only important to the city, it is important to the county. We worked so well together the past few years.
"There is always going to be some bumps and bruises from time to time, but as a whole I think we are working great together."
The city has been supportive of the Maxwell Center from the start and has a "ton of money" in it, too, Stevens said. It is not as much as the county has invested in the center and certainly not as much risk on the operating side, he said.
"But we have a significant investment there, too, and the city wants it to be successful as well." he said. "The only comment that really bothers me a little bit was the idea or insinuation that we would be holding sort of the county hostage over the hotel. But that's not true.
"We are working together on this project and it is important to Goldsboro for the center to be successful. We do want a hotel there, and we have been making efforts at that."
But is a bit of a catch-22, he said.
Hoteliers want to know how many events have been booked, he said, while people who book the big conventions will not commit until there is a hotel.
"I think the demand in this community will support a hotel," Stevens said. "But that is what the study, I guess, is going to help us prove.
"If it is determined that it doesn't support it today, the study is supposed to help us predict when it will support it -- a year or two, or five or 10. That is what we are trying to do through that."