Affordable housing advocates, hospitality industry employees, and others are raising questions about the 21c Museum Hotel project in Lexington.
The groups plan to air their concerns at Thursday night’s Urban County Council meeting.
Construction has already started on the 21c project, but worries are surfacing about the $6 million in federal Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, funds that will be dedicated to the project. With only $10 million in HUD money available to the city this year, the 21c project will leave just $4 million for other housing initiatives.
Councilman Kevin Stinnett laid out the concerns during a meeting May 27th.
"We have a lot of needs in our city. We have an old courthouse right next door that needs a lot of work. We have an affordable housing trust fund that's just starting up. So when we sit down and look at our citizens and our constituents out there, they want to know is this the best use of our money," he said.
21c president Craig Greenberg says a “no” vote on final approval tonight would effectively kill the project – and send a bad message to future developers looking to build in Lexington.
The city approved the loan and public-private partnership in November 2012.
