The Fayette National Bank Building is the site of a planned 21c Museum Hotel.
Lexington, KY – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved a $6 million loan guarantee to Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to provide financial assistance for the proposed 21c Museum Hotel slated for the former First National Bank Building downtown.
Part of HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Assistance Program, the $6 million loan guarantee was applied for in late 2012 and approved in late March of 2014.
Lexington Downtown Development Authority President Jeff Fugate said the city will act largely as a conduit for the money that will come from a HUD lending partner.
"We've been working diligently with HUD to make sure that this important project is able to move forward. The HUD 108 program is designed to create jobs for low to moderate income workers and that's what this project will do."
HUD's Section 108 Loan Guarantee Assistance Program enables local governments to borrow money at reduced interest rates to promote economic development and stimulate job growth, a release from HUD announcing the loan guarantee states.
"HUD's Loan Guarantee Program can be a powerful public investment tool to drive economic development in underserved areas," HUD Regional Administrator for the Southeast Ed Jennings, Jr. said in the release. "This hotel project will benefit the development's access to capital that will provide the needed boost to bring commercial activity while simultaneously creating approximately 125 full time much needed jobs, many of which will be held by low- and moderate-income persons.”
Upon completion, the hotel slated for the corner of Main and Upper will feature 90 rooms, a 5,000 square-foot restaurant, 5,000 square feet of meeting space and a 12,000 square-foot contemporary art museum that will be free to the public and open around the clock.
In a statement from 21c's Director of Public Relations, Stephanie Greene, 21c's CEO Craig Greenberg saidthe hotel's completion is reliant on assistance such as this. "Without city, state and federal assistance, this project would not have become a reality... The project will repay this loan."
When construction on the hotel will actually get underway remains a question. The project was initially announced in April of 2012, and the company stated at the time construction was expected to begin within 12 months and the hotel would be ready for guests at some point in 2014. In an email Greene said there is not an updated timeline for when work might commence.
The hotel chain is based out of Louisville where its first luxury modern art hotel chain was founded in 2007 and has been voted among the top 10 hotels in the world in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the Condé Nast Traveler annual Readers’ Choice Awards. The company has other locations in Cincinnati and Bentonville, Ark.