Plans are taking shape for a new addition on Detroit's riverfront. Hotel Water Square, a $396.5 million development, will bring 600 hotel rooms next to Huntington Place. The developers are looking for tax incentives for the development.
In the latest Community Benefits Ordinance meeting, the developers, Atwater and Second Associates, LLC, and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation presented plans to the community. They'll request incentives from the Michigan Strategic Fund Designated Renaissance Zone and the Commercial Rehabilitation Act. These will total $82.1 million and $11.6 million, respectively.
The tax incentives happen over a long period of time, 10 and 30 years, and they don't start until the development is complete. With these incentives, developers will pay less in taxes.
Developers say this project could not happen without the incentives and that they couldn't get the needed financing.
Hotel Water Square is expected to start construction later this year and potentially open in 2027. In addition to the 600 hotel rooms, it includes meeting space, three new restaurants, an extended Second Avenue, and a walkway to the convention center.
CBO meetings continue into February. They take place every Tuesday at 6 p.m. and are open to the public.
