MASON CITY – In the on-going bizarre saga of a downtown hotel development for Mason City that has dragged on for nearly 3 years, the latest sour twist comes in the form of a delay blamed on the Prestage slaughterhouse snub.
City Hall in Mason City first announced that a hotel would be built in downtown Mason City back in 2013. After many twists and turns that led nowhere, the development most recently became tied to the “Our River City Renaissance” development, a 5-project undertaking that seeks $10 million in state dollars to get off the ground. A developer with ties to Mason City, Phillip Chodur, is the hotel developer seeking to build a Marriott hotel in a parking lot next door to city hall.
Whispers that the development has hit hard times once again seem to possibly be coming true now, as city hall documents show that Chodur has sought approved delays from city hall before breaking ground. The city council on Tuesday night, July 5, will consider amendments to a development agreement already signed with Chodur’s G8 Development company.
According to a memo from City Administrator Brent Trout:
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In the last couple of weeks Mayor Bookmeyer, Council Member Kuhn and I have had a couple of conversations with Philip Chodur regarding a request from him for an extension on the start date for his projects. He was seeking a six month extension on the start date for both projects but no change in the completion date. We did not feel that we should grant an extension of six months because of the need to begin this project given its connection to the Iowa Reinvestment District Act funding. In the end, we negotiated a three month extension for the hotel project and a four month extension for the mixed-use development for the reasons described below. The new commence construction dates will be October 31, 2016 for both projects if the amendments are approved.
Philip Chodur, G8 Development, decided, that based on the possibility of the Prestage Foods project happening, to change the design of his hotel to add an additional floor of rooms. The additional rooms would increase the revenue received in our reinvestment district and in our hotel/motel tax so this was a supported decision. He instructed his architect to design the hotel with the extra floor and had design and financial paper work done to prepare to meet with the Marriott Corporation to seek approval for the additional floor. In the end when the Prestage project did not move forward he had to have his architect switch the design back to the original design. The loss of time in this process was well over a month. The other issue that has delayed his progress is the decision to move the Generation 6 design for the hotel instead of the Generation 5 design of Marriott Courtyard hotel. The Generation 6 design will be a better design for our downtown area as its appearance will fit better with our existing buildings. The decision to do a Generation 6 design has caused additional redesign time in some areas because all previous design work had been done on the Generation 5 design.
The work was also to begin on the Mixed Use development on 2nd StreetNE and FederalAvenue by June 30, 2016 but he has not startedwork.Mr. Chodur has delayed the start of the project and requested the extension for this project primarily because of his decision to purchase and demolish the building on 2nd Street NE that “Little Chicago” is located in.The decision to add this additional space to the project will increase the square footage of the building and the number of rooms that will be built at this location. He will square off his building instead of having to build around the other building which will make space for more rooms and he also intends to build an additional floor of apartments.He has a contract to purchase the “Little Chicago” building and will execute purchase as soon as he receives the deed on the City property (which is in process). He will then begin demolition and site preparation at this location.
Philip Chodur has signed both of the amended development agreement documents and they are included in the council packet for your information and review. The completion by G8 Development of these projects has the quickest and best chance for moving forward. Mr. Chodur has been progressing on the completion of the requirements and is confident that he can begin the projects by October 31, 2016 and complete it by the deadline in each agreement.
The date October 31, 2016 was agreed to because if work is not commencing by this date, the chance of G8 Development building in this construction season is small. If the commence construction date is not met by G8 Development, then the City would then use the winter months to seek proposals from other developers to complete the projects so that construction could begin in the spring of next year. Approval of the amendment to the development agreement does not require a public hearing be held and may be approved by one vote by City Council.
Does eagle grove want the north iowa bulls too with all the money comming into eagle grove they could build a nice home for themto play in plus when the downtown development fall apart they won’t want to stay in that crappy place they have now and they will also be mad at the city for not builing them a new home to play at.
maybe he should build in wright county with prestage building there wright county is growing and Mason City and cerro gordo is dying
Build your fricken motel in Webster County you bunch of crooks.
Oh, please. This guy is a crook just like his scummy, sleazy brother.
Who would be able to afford to stay at the hotel, assuming they are expecting tourists, why would anyone want to visit M.C., also there are already motels etc., in my view the hotel idea is not a good idea, just like the South Bridge mall that is 13 million in debt, these people must live in some parallel financial world, than the rest of mankind.
Mason City School System is looking at a double gym, expanded sports complex between the existing gym and the stadium in the future. Isn’t it about time ALL stake holders in the community start communicating AND pulling in the same direction? MCSS could have built a new campus in the down town area within easy access of a downtown shared sports complex if they had been part of a COMMUNITY oriented long term vision. Too late for a new campus after the new school expansions. Or, could $5M mall be utilized for education? There is a better plan than currently on the books.
Anyone notice the likeness to Ron Prestage? Or, the litigation history?
Wake up mason city, this chodur fellow is a wolf in an angels coat
Oh WOW!! Here they go again. I though nothing could top the Prestage Farms debacle, but this Philip Chodur thing takes the prize. Why can’t he break ground? Oh I get it he needs the $10 million in state dollars to get started. That makes sense.
Hell, even Chodur’s own sister sued his sorry ass.
http://www.fearnotlaw.com/wsnkb/articles/behne_v_chodur-29415.html
where are the Praise church people going to park on Sunday’s?
Smoke and mirrors, nothing but excuses. I would of thought that when they were here looking around town that they would of decided on a “generation 6” design to begin with if that is what they thought was best for Mason City. Shouldn’t of been flip flopping on that issue. Also if they already had the design for “the one less floor” that shouldn’t of taken any more time to go back to that either. Why would you add another floor for a one time traveling construction crew? The hotel idea downtown is waste of our time and money. The hotels already in town I would guess would be lucky to be at 60% capacity and they want to add another. Has anyone checked into this? If built it will become another Southbridge Mall story that we’ll be left holding the bag on. This town already has too much baggage.
That’s ok, when he bails and we lose the $7 million from the state, the taxpayer can just pay the difference, like the $2 million that the Hockey Assoc. can’t raise. This whole project is a JOKE from the start!
Nothing more then an excuse. I say no extension if he can’t even live up to this part of the contract then he is not the person we want to be in business with.
…I guess I am not understanding Mr Chodur’s reasoning for building another floor…was he expecting that workers from the “pig plant” would make their homes in his hotel???
…the best bet for this city…and the council, would be to go ahead and look for another developer, rather than waiting for the October deadline and finding out Mr Chodur will have “another” reason for not moving forward on this…another going nowhere project!
What a waste of time. A hotel downtown. What a great idea. People from the top floor can see all the drug deals and crime going on the north end. Brilliant.
More excuses, another delay. What’s new? This is a pretend so called Developer who didn’t deliver after six yeas of delays in a similar, but larger proposed downtown project in Vista, Ca. till
the City Council terminated their Agreement. Now in to the Ca. court system.
MC on the same trip wiith out the money to deliver either of these
two projects via this Developer and any lender. Take bets on the next excuse come Oct. 31, 2016.
Agreed PAt.
This Philip Chodur guy is about as shady as it gets. He is a snake-oil salesman & has reneged on numerous deals.
He has been involved in more lawsuits than you can shake a stick at.
This whole thing is going down the toilet and fast.
Brent Trout is a fairly smart guy and I can’t believes that he actually buys into this G8 bullshit.
I can see Eric Bookmeyer buying into it as he is a freakin’ idiot and it just goes along with all of his other failed and idiotic projects.
Philip Chodur and Eric Bookmeyer, that is one hell of a disastrous & dumbass combination.
Agreed-I said that right along. Now the people who were against the pork plant have a lot to be proud of too.
If people are mad be mad at all those people from other towns that got prestage killed poor Alex Kuan going to lose his dream pet project maybe he better have voted in favor of prestage