JAMESTOWN, N.Y. -- The city of Jamestown and the Hamister Group are a step closer to opening a new Hilton Double Tree Hotel downtown. The move comes after the Buffalo-based developer broke ground on a similar project in Niagara Falls Tuesday.
"It's a very large project for Jamestown, a sizeable project for the developer, with a lot of complexities in it," Mayor Sam Teresi said. "They've been putting in a lot of time and attention in the Jamestown project already."
Teresi says Hamister has most of the funding needed for the $14 million project, as well as the city's continued support. That, after the community has seen a number of project delays that has kept the building vacant.
"The only thing they see is the groundbreaking and the ribbon cutting, and really do not have an understanding as to the level of blood, sweat and tears that are put into every single project," Teresi said.
Chautauqua County leaders say despite the delays, they'll continue to offer Hamister the necessary tax breaks and incentives necessary to move the project forward.
"We have not wavered one bit. We're moving forward on this project," said Kevin Sanvidge, Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency CEO. "Extremely important, this project to not only to Jamestown but all of Chautauqua County."
In a statement, Hamister said quote, "We are waiting on a few more approvals from our Hilton brand in terms of design, then we can take the project out to bid. Once that's complete, we can start construction. We're hoping to be open around summer 2017."
Teresi says he'd like it to coincide with the opening of the National Comedy Center.
"That is still a strong possibility," Teresi said.
The city looks to break ground this fall.