MIDLAND, Texas — The DoubleTree Hotel in Downtown Midland will need to find a new way to secure funding after their proposal to receive $15 million in funding was denied by Midland Development Corporation.
This comes after Managing Partner Shafik Tejani gave a presentation to the MDC board during their meeting on Nov. 6, giving reasons as to why the board should provide the funding.
“[The funding would] help with getting new furniture, fixtures and then updating all of the infrastructures, including elevators, HVAC systems, roofing systems and internet, trying to get the latest greatest internet packages," Tejani said.
Other improvements would have been made to the lobby and guest rooms, while the pool deck and roof top bar would've been expanded. The hotel would have also pitched in $2.5 million from owner investments.
Initial plans for renovations were planned years ago, but the COVID-19 pandemic and financial downturns brought by it put those plans on hold.
According to Sara Harris, the executive director of Midland Development Corporation, she says the discussion regarding the hotel happened between board members during the Dec. 4 meeting.
After discussing the proposal during the executive session, they made the decision to reject DoubleTree's proposal.
The proposal's rejection confused Tejani.
“They gave us no real reason," Tejani said. "They didn’t give us any real reason except that your application has been denied and there was no real explanation to why it was denied.”
At the moment, MDC can't explain what was said in executive session, but for now, the decision is final.
"It (the decision) was made in executive session, discussions can’t be shared," Harris said. "Bottom line, the board chose not to move forward with the proposal as presented.”
Tejani does plan on going back to the MDC board to ask for reasons why the proposal was rejected. Meanwhile, Harris says that the MDC board is open to renegotiating a reworked proposal.