Nasty looking development. So. Much. Surface Parking.

Marriott Courtyard hotel to open next month at Briarcliff Village

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/08/21/briarcliff-will-get-its-first-hotel.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2012-08-21

Here's a picture of the hotel as it stands right now.

So the Super TIF went for that.

WTF? That's what they built and needed super tif for? You have got to be kidding.

There was a lot of tree blight in the area.

the natural hill wasn't pleasant to view from the crazy expensive homes up on the hill

From what I can tell not kidding. Remember the "secret" deal some with the city made with the developer to get the whole project started?

What's wrong with it?

Giving away tax money when you don't need to give it away.

I mean, what's wrong with the building that doesn't warrant the tax money?

There's nothing wrong with the building itself. But the money would have been better spent anywhere else.

I know you don't mean that.

For that location? It's perfectly appropriate.

Briarcliff came to be the poster child for misuse of TIF money being spent on blighted areas.

BCW was a brownfield due to the extensive mine network underneath that had to be stabilized, not completely successfully as some homeowners have had problems although no houses have disappeared into sinkholes. I think the North Oak/Vivion Lowes was more the posterchild for TIF misuse.

I honestly don't have a problem with Briarcliff getting a tiff or even a super tiff. It's actually a great mixed use infill project that would not have happened without incentives and it replaced true blight (landfill etc) that would still there today. It has really cleaned up the 169 corridor and it's very close to downtown.

Having said that, they seemed to have crossed the line here. If you are going to use supertiff to build a hotel, then why build a little hotel like this that looks like it could be at any exit in metro kc. The original plan for this was for a large full service Marriott in a 12 story building. I just think the city got burned a bit on the end result here.

Still, this development is fine. Great project for KC even though it was built with a lot of incentives. It would be one of the last projects I would bitch about when it comes to using tiffs.

Anyone think this hotel looks a lot like the section 8 apartments and 39th and Baltimore?

Alcazar????

Er, no.