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New hotel in works for Xenia

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XENIA — City council Thursday is expected to consider a tax break for a developer wishing to bring a hotel to Xenia.

Tashi Hospitality Inc., based in Van Wert, Ohio, purchased nearly 4 acres of land along Progress Drive near Hospitality Drive and has applied for a Community Reinvestment Area property tax abatement to construct a Hampton Inn. If approved by council, Tashi would receive a 90 percent abatement for six years and then 70 percent abatement for two more, drastically reducing the amount of property tax.

The Xenia Community School Board of Education approved a resolution Monday agreeing to the tax break, required by law since the district is affected by the abatement.

The exact amount of the tax break will not be known until the project is completed, but City Manager Brent Merriman it helps make the financing work and the project viable.

“The intent of it is to allow a venue like a hotel to get its feet under it,” he said. “To build the client base. It was a necessary step for us.”

Preliminary plans call for a four-story hotel with approximately 80 rooms and conference space, according to City Manager Brent Merriman. It will create approximately eight full-time and 12 part-time jobs with an expected annual payroll of $300,000 according to city documents.

“We are very, very excited about the project,” Merriman said. “This project was a priority for us in large part because we have heard from our business community over and over that they needed more options and some better options relative to hospitality. They needed hotel rooms. We’re meeting a business need.”

Currently Ramada is the only hotel in the area with conference space.

Tashi’s investment in the project is estimated at $3-4 million, Merriman said, which will help the city’s tax base. But city officials are banking on the hotel spawning future development in that area to help bring more money to town. Merriman said the city has already had a site plan submitted from one interested developer and more retail and restaurant options will hopefully follow.

Construction could begin as early as this fall with an anticipated completion date of late summer to early fall 2017.

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By Scott Halasz

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Contact Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.