The February 1 parking deck and Westin Hotel project is still on hold as far as actual construction goes.
In December 2020, Greensboro City Manager David Parrish said that he expected construction to start around the beginning of 2021 and he expected the deck to be coming out of the ground in February.
However, it is worth noting that in 2019 Parrish said he expected the parking deck to be coming out of the ground in early 2020.
It’s February and that construction hasn’t started.
On Tuesday, Feb. 9, Greensboro Department of Transportation Director Hanna Cockburn said, “We’re still working through some of the final agreement details.”
She noted that the city had sold the bonds approved by the City Council in December, so the city’s financial part of the public-private partnership was ready.
She said, “I think the city has made all of the changes that we are responsible for making.”
In December, the City Council increased the amount of funding from $30 million to $37 million in bonds. The actual cost estimate according to Assistant City Manager Larry Davis was a little over $36 million, but for the bond sale the city rounded it up to $37 million.
In December, the City Council also approved a change in the ownership agreement between the City of Greensboro and Elm Street Hotel LLC. In the original agreement each entity was to own their parcels independently. The resolution passed by the City Council states, “However, due to changing economic conditions, both parties decided that placing their parcels in a Condominium structure would be more advantageous.”
With the city financing in place and the revised ownership agreement, construction could start according to Parrish.
However, Cockburn said that they were waiting for official confirmation that all of Phase 1 of the project had been completed before the Phase 2 construction could begin.
Cockburn said that she understood that the private partner, Elm Street Hotel LLC, “demonstrating that their funding is in place” was part of Phase 1.
