The City of Omaha is creating a new program to help incentivize the construction of upscale hotels in the City. Over the next few weeks, the City Council will review and vote on an ordinance to create a Hotel Occupation Tax Reinvestment Program. The program allows developers to use all or a portion of the transient rental guest tax revenue to reimburse eligible development costs, including acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, utility extensions and parking, among other things. Per the Omaha Municipal Code, the transient rental guest tax totals 5.5 percent of the gross charge for hotel occupancy. According to the ordinance, a qualifying hotel project must meet several parameters. Foremost, the hotel must be new to market and be considered an upper-upscale hotel. The City defines “upper-upscale” as a hotel that meets a Four Diamond rating or better under the AAA hotel rating scale. The hotel must also be located within half a mile of a city-owned cultural or entertainment...

Drury Hotels purchased another developable lot in Downtown Omaha adjacent to the lot the company already owns Last year, Grow Omaha reported that Drury purchased the surface parking lot at 322 South 10th Street on the northwest corner of 10th & Harney Street from an entity affiliated with Embassy Suites. The purchase came with several restrictions including limitations of 252 hotel rooms, 4,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and an opening date no sooner than 2029. Embassy Suites operates a hotel one block to the south. At the end of last month, Drury closed on a $5.8 million purchase of a largely greenfield site at the southeast corner of 10th & Harney Street. Purchased from Conagra Brands, this 1.4-acre parcel has a paved trail, but otherwise has no other improvements. Currently, there are no recorded restrictions similar to the property across the intersection. The deed does include a restriction that no hotel under the upper midscale as defined by the STR Chain Scale can be...