Herring Hotel Market Study Funding Item Withdrawn

Center City TIRZ #1 Board meeting/Photo by Noah Dawson

The Center City TIRZ #1 Board did not consider an agenda item that would have funded a market study for the Herring Hotel during their April 11th meeting.

The board had discussed funding a study during their last regular meeting held on March 14th. The proposal was championed by board member Gary Jennings, who claimed the study would only cost $2,000.

No action on the study was taken during the March 14th meeting, as it was only listed as a discussion item. Instead, it was set to be placed as an action item on the April 11th agenda, with Source Strategies set to get the contract.

After the March 14th meeting, an investigation by The Amarillo Pioneer revealed that the company that owns the Herring Hotel property had declared bankruptcy on March 5th. According to an audio recording of the March 14th meeting obtained by The Amarillo Pioneer, no mention of the bankruptcy filing was made during the meeting.

The item was nonetheless still put on the agenda for the board’s April 11th meeting. However, the item was ultimately pulled from consideration. “This item has actually been withdrawn,” said Drew Brassfield, the city's Assistant Director of Planning. No reason was given for why the item was withdrawn. He then noted it could potentially come back at a future meeting. “I think we can consider it withdrawn. If it does decide to come back up again, we can add it to a future agenda.”