City Council meets to discuss proposal for new hotel-conference center

JACKSON, Tenn. — Members of the agenda review committee met to discuss a proposal to introduce at the city council’s next meeting.

If approved, a proposal to build a new hotel and conference center could bring major business opportunities to the area.

“We heard, this evening, a proposal from the ownership of the Jackson Generals for the construction of a hotel-conference center,” said Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist.

“I think Jackson is ready for a larger conference center where we can acquire regional conferences,” said Mayor Gist.

He says that the hotel will be in a strategic location, placed in between two major cities such as Memphis and Nashville.

“Nashville is overcrowded, hotel rooms are expensive, and many of our associations simply can’t afford the cost of having a conference in Nashville,” said Gist.

The mayor says the hotel and conference center would be built near the Ballpark at Jackson, which is the home to the Jackson Generals.

“It is a good location because of a lot of visibility for that interchange, there’s a lot of tourists out there in that area especially for travel baseball,” said Mayor Gist.

Gist says it is only the beginning of the process, but right now they are looking at a Hyatt Hotel.

“We want to make sure it’s a good deal for the developers but also a good deal for the city of Jackson,” Gist said.

Mayor Gist says this will be a complex project, and he expects many questions from council members.

“It’s something that we have been looking at for a number of years and we will just see where this project goes,” Gist added.

Next Tuesday the city council will be voting on whether to accept the proposal as presented to them by the owners of the Generals Baseball club.

Mayor Gist says if the proposal passes, the project will be a public-private partnership.

The Jackson City Council will meet next Tuesday at 9 a.m. at Jackson’s City Hall.