MACON, Ga. — Some business owners in Perry are excited for a hotel to come to the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agriculture Center. Fairground leaders are looking for a new developer to design, build, and run the hotel. This comes after plans with a selected developer didn't work out.
Fairgrounds Executive Director Stephen Shimp says they selected a developer called Bran Hospitality. When they went into negotiations, Shimp says they couldn't "come to terms" with each other.
Gage Lamberth has worked at the 41 Grocery Store in Perry for about 11 years. He says he usually sees a spike in customers during the Georgia National Fair.
"We get a lot of business from out of town from people who have heard about the store from their relatives and what not who live in Perry," said Lamberth.
Those guests usually buy snacks on their way in and out of the fairgrounds. Lamberth was happy to hear there were plans to bring a 100-room hotel there.
"I think it would help business quite a bit," said Lamberth.
Shimp says the plan is to have a developer build the hotel by the Miller-Murphy-Howard Conference Center.
He says it's recommended to require what's called a "payment and performance bond" of the developer since the hotel would be on state property.
The bond is basically an extra cost the developer pays to insure the developer completes the project.
"It's an extra cost and a burden on a developer," said Shimp.
He's still hopeful they can find another bidder to build a full-service hotel with a restaurant inside.
"It's really the missing piece of the puzzle that we have here," said Shimp.
Shimp says they hope to have a request for proposals out by the end of the week so they can start accepting bids from other developers.