What is the status of the new hotel that the town approved a while back?

A new hotel on South Main at the former site of St. John’s Lutheran Church is no longer in the planning stages for a simple reason — the land was never purchased although the developer, Francis Hospitality, Inc., spoke positively about plans for the proposed hotel earlier in the year.

In March a joint public hearing of the Farmville Town Council and planning commission met and

approved a zoning change to allow Francis Hospitality, Inc. to construct a 75 to 85-room hotel on the former site of the church.

In a March 17 Herald article David Francis commented, “Technically it’s going to be a hotel because it’s going to be greater than three stories in height.”

At the time Francis was enthusiastic about the location for the proposed hotel.

“I thought the location was just a phenomenal location,” Francis said.

Francis anticipated breaking ground on the project in August.

Farmville Town Manager Gerald Spates explained that the option (to buy) the property was not renewed.

“They had an option to buy and were going through a process of studying whether or not it was feasible to build it,” Spates said.

Spates has not been contacted regarding any specific reason or reasons why the hotel project never got off the ground.

“I don’t have complete information on the occupancy rates of existing hotels here and whether that indicates others are needed,” Longwood Small Business Development Center Executive Director Sheri McGuire said.  “I do hear that there are not enough rooms for big events such as graduations and that hotels are completely booked already for the time around the vice presidential debate.” 

Although a new hotel for Farmville is no longer on the immediate horizon, Spates hopes that others in the hospitality industry will consider Farmville.

“I think there’s definitely a need for more hotel/motel space in Farmville down the road,” Spates said.

Francis could not be reached for comment.