Paducah Mayor George Bray announced Tuesday night that the city is severing its partnership with a development company that had committed to bringing a $24 million project to the far western Kentucky community’s downtown.
Bray made the announcement during a Meeting of the City Commission that Paducah and Weyland Ventures – a Louisville-based real estate development group that first signed an agreement with the city in 2020 – would no longer make progress together with the City Block Projectwhich included plans for a boutique hotel with restaurant and bar areas as well as additional green spaces and improved parking facilities.
“We have worked for a long time to make this project a success. And at the end of the day, after we put a lot of pressure on them to make a decision, they decided not to go ahead,” Bray said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The announcement was not included in the agenda published before the meeting.
Several state officials, including Governor Andy Beshear, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the hotel project in 2023. At that timeThe governor described the City Block project as a symbol of Paducah’s “growing and vibrant downtown.”
City officials and Weyland Ventures announced in October that the project had been delayed. At the time, Weyland Ventures CEO Mariah Weyland Gratz cited several factors, including problems with foundation construction, rising construction costs and interest rates, and difficulties in finding contractors. That same month, Weyland Ventures announced that the project had been delayed. lost his financial obligation from Paducah Bank for the project.
The City Block project was originally a cornerstone of the minimum capital investment Paducah must make to meet its $20 million requirement for its Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. allowed Local governments can absorb future increases in property taxes and other taxes from new construction in certain areas.
In a press release, the city said public and private investment in its TIF district, excluding the hotel construction, “is approaching the $20 million mark.” Bray said Paducah remains on track to meet its initial TIF investment goal by March 2025.
With the project halted, Bray said the city of Paducah could regain control of the portion of the block that Weyland wanted to use for the boutique hotel.
Bray said he remains optimistic about the future of downtown Paducah and the potential for some other new developments, such as a new hotel near the city’s convention center and possible projects around the former U.S. Bank building.
