The city of Jackson is moving forward with the sale of the historic Hayes Hotel, despite opposition from a Milwaukee-based developer that was previously promised the property.
The Jackson City Council had originally approved the sale of the hotel to J. Jeffers & Co. in April of 2022, granting multiple extensions as the developer reviewed plans to begin construction. However, the latest extension expired at the end of last year.
“It's been an almost three-year slog, giving this developer every opportunity to move forward,” said City Attorney Matthew Hagerty. “They didn't meet their contractual obligations. The contract expired, and the city was free to move on with a new developer at that point.”
J. Jeffers & Co had three years to propose plans for construction but ran into problems on how exactly to finance development.
“One of the big issues was [for] the proposal to have the development be financed in part through low-income housing tax credits, or LIHTC, which was not going to be supportable by city council,” Hagerty said. “Jeffers changed course and said that they could do a market rate. But these were all discussions that happened after the purchase agreement had already expired.”
Last week, the city approved a new deal to sell the hotel to developer Collier Gibson. J. Jeffers & Co. sued to stop the sale, but on March 3, Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard LaFlamme denied a request for a preliminary injunction.
J. Jeffers argued in court that they believed the contract did not expire on Dec. 31 due to ongoing discussions with the city. Ultimately, there were no written agreements to that effect, which resulted in Judge LaFlamme’s decision.
Another hearing is set for March 24, when the city will seek full dismissal of the J. Jeffers lawsuit. J. Jeffers & Co did not return a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.