Nov. 15--Plans to redevelop the downtown block dominated by the old President Hotel got a big boost Wednesday with the endorsement of $21.5 million in tax incentives. 

The $80 million project would transform the empty landmark into a 200-room boutique hotel managed by the Wyndham International chain of Dallas and add 229 luxury apartments on the remaining block. 

The redevelopment plan for the block bounded by Baltimore Avenue and 13th, 14th and Main streets was approved by the Kansas City Tax Increment Financing Commission and sent to the City Council for final consideration next month. 

TIF Commission members were convinced that developer Ronald Jury of Overland Park had lined up the financing to complete the project, which also calls for 47,000 square feet of new retail development and a 462-car garage. 

"We're excited about their support and look forward to going before the council and getting construction started in March," Jury said. 

The plan calls for completion of the hotel by spring 2003 and the apartments later that year. 

Some of the strongest support for the plan came from Wayne Chappell, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Kansas City. 

Chappell said that although the extra 200 hotel rooms would be helpful, the main benefit of the project would be to clean up an eyesore just two blocks from Bartle Hall. 

"One reason we lose business is because downtown appears to be dead," he said. "That big derelict block is hard to miss. This would be a big stroke to redevelop it." 

Chappell also said the new hotel would not undermine the city's investment in other downtown hotels. 

"We're as excited about the apartments as the hotel," he said. "The main thing is to redevelop downtown." 

The apartments would be in five-story buildings facing Baltimore, 13th and Main. The deteriorated structures currently there would be demolished. 

There had been some skepticism in the private development community that Jury, who has previously been involved in apartment construction and management, could take on such a big project. 

He and Frank Forte, a hotel developer in Nashville, Tenn., are partners in the venture and have formed the President Development Group. 

Jury said that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had made lenders nervous about hotel projects but that those worries had waned. 

"It's been a lot of work, and I'm pleased to say we're over the hurdle of the financing," he said. "It hasn't been easy with September 11. Hospitality lending in general was put on hold overall, but it's been improving since then." 

The financial package includes a $36 million loan from Collateral Mortgage, formerly Charter American; a $10 million loan from Ultra LLC, an AFL-CIO-backed lender; $13 million in state and federal historic tax credits; and $3 million in cash. 

The $21.5 million in TIF assistance would come in the form of bonds issued by the city, which would be repaid by the additional tax revenue generated by the project. 

The developers are seeking Super TIF designation for the project, which would use 100 percent of the additional sales and earnings tax revenue generated by the project to help finance its development. 

The lawyer representing the President Development Group, David Fenley, said the profit to investors would be just under 19 percent under the TIF plan. 

That rate is slightly less than investors are receiving for the redevelopment of the new Hotel Phillips, another historic hotel that recently reopened downtown, he said. 

The President opened in 1926 as one of Kansas City's grandest downtown hotels and is listed on the National Historic Register. 

It was host to the 1928 Republican presidential convention, and its guests have included Charles Lindbergh and Bob Dylan. The Drum Room was one of downtown's most popular nightclubs. 

The hotel has been closed since 1980. Plans call for restoration of the Drum Room and other interior features of the President, including the ornate lobby and the Aztec Room banquet hall. 

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