The hotel would create 65 full-time jobs, paying an average annual wage of about $23,000 per year, according to Loeb's application for a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) from the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) for Memphis & Shelby County.
Loeb is applying for the Community Builder PILOT, an EDGE program created to assist companies investing in urban revitalization in distressed neighborhoods. Overton Square is a hub of retail and restaurant activity.
"We have heard repeatedly from the theater operators that if there were a hotel at Overton Square, that they could develop a regional theater district that would attract visitors to the city from a 250-mile radius," Robert Loeb wrote in a letter to EDGE CEO Reid Dulberger. "Unfortunately, it has become clear that unless we dedicate the resources to make it happen, there will not be a hotel at Overton Square."
Read the full article at Memphis Business Journal.