MANHATTAN (KSNT) - City officials in Manhattan made a big decision Tuesday to approve $20 million in bonds for a new privately-owned hotel. Manhattan city commissioners voted unanimously in approval of two items during their meeting on Jan. 21 related to the construction of a new 105-room Hampton Inn by Hilton in the Aggieville area. T.J. Vilkanskas, Back Nine Development president, was also in attendance and gave a detailed presentation of what the new hotel would mean for the Little Apple prior to commissioners voting on the topic. Commissioners gave their unanimous approval to the following agenda items: A second amendment to the development agreement with Midtown Land Company, LLC for the Midtown Phase 1 site (12th Street and Laramie Street). Resolution No. 012125-D which authorizes the issuance of Industrial Revenue Bonds amounting to $20 million for the purpose of realizing a sales tax exemption on construction materials. Kansas named best state to drive in nationwide: study Vilkanskas told commissioners the new hotel will provide many benefits to the city such as the accumulation of $5 million for the Aggieville Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district to help fund infrastructure improvements until the TIF expires in 2038. The hotel is also projected to generate around $4.9 million in transient guest tax revenue during the TIF period and contribute substantially to property tax for the city after 2038. "At the end of the day, we thought that the hotel was the only thing that made sense to move this project forward... but I did want to go on record saying that this was not the only thing we were doing," Vilkanskas said. "This was not the only thing that we tried. We did look at a lot of other options and those options simply we could not make work." City commissioners had to approve a second amendment for the hotel on Tuesday to allow for the project's space, located near the intersection of Laramie Street and North 12th Street, to be switched to a private project site. Initial plans for the area included the construction of a multi-purpose structure with mostly office space. However, with the new amendment approved, this area is instead cleared for the creation of a 105-room hotel with a 100-stall parking garage. Vilkanskas and Back Nine Development have completed other projects in Manhattan such as the reimagining of the crumbling Royal Towers Apartment complex. His company helped transform the apartments into luxury condos in 2024. Kansas non-citizens under scrutiny with new driver’s license bill You can read through a presentation on the hotel by checking out the document below. To watch the full City of Manhattan commission meeting from Jan. 22, click here. 3.MidtownPresentation-OtherDocs by Matthew Self on Scribd For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf