By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — City officials are worried that plans to build a Hyatt Hotel in Harlem, spearheaded by football Hall of Fame star Emmitt Smith, might not meet the deadline required to keep $20 million in federal funding.
Concerns that the city will lose out entirely on the federally backed tax-exempt financing have caused the city's Economic Development Corp. to put a back-up plan in motion to insure that a New York City project gets the funding before it expires on December 31, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In June, the Board of the New York City Capital Resource Corporation — which is controlled by Mayor Michael Bloomberg — had approved Smith's company, ESmith Legacy Harlem LLC, to receive up to $20 million in federal Recovery Zone Facility Bonds to use towards the 200 room luxury hotel complex at 100 West 125th Street and Lennox Avenue.
Smith, who won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, was expected to start construction in September on the $80 million, 100,000-square-foot hotel on the vacant lot on 125th Street. The building would also house a YMCA and a Whole Foods supermarket, Crain's New York Business reported, and would create 129 construction jobs and 81 permanent jobs.
But with no signs of work on the gaping empty lot, officials have scheduled a hearing to consider two other projects — both in Brooklyn — for the financing.
"Our goal is to ensure that the remaining 'Recovery Zone' benefit goes into shovel-ready projects before the end-of-year deadline—when the money will go back to Washington," David Lombino, a spokesman for the city's Economic Development Corp told the Journal.
"So, we've designed a process that gives us the best chance of success," Mr. Lombino said, "and that involves looking at additional options as well as the previously approved project."
