Jackson City Council members discuss hotel, convention center off Exit 85 on I-40

JACKSON, Tenn. — A new convention center could be coming to the Hub City.

“The city needs a conference center, so that would be very beneficial for the city to have a conference center,” Councilman Randy Wallace said.

David Freeman, the owner of the  Jackson Generals, asked the Jackson City Council Tuesday for a contract to build a new $30 million convention center and hotel by The Ballpark at Jackson.

“It’s a win for the ball team,” Councilwoman Vicky Foote said. “And I’m like so many others, I want to keep the ball team and them to be profitable.”

The city of Jackson had originally agreed to pay for the convention center, but not the hotel. Freeman presented a new possibility during the City Council meeting that could fund both.

“The owners of the ball team made a proposal to build a conference center in exchange for them not having to pay some of the sales tax and some of the hotel/motel tax to help them fund some of the conference center,” Wallace said.

However, there were concerns from different hotel owners in Jackson about building that hotel and convention center off Exit 85.

“Directly competing against us, and it’s not an even playing field because they get the tax money to go towards their expense,” Mel Patel, who owns several hotels in Jackson, said. “We do business, and everything goes out of our pocket.”

Some on the City Council say they were not surprised by the other owners’ and managers’ concerns.

“I think they’re talking fairly when they say this may not be an even playing field,” Foote said.

“They could lose business because of that,” Wallace said. “On the other side of the coin, they could gain some business because of it. But most people who come to a convention want to stay at a hotel where a conference center is.”

The proposal is going before the Industrial Development Board for their review.