Rather than approve a $4 million loan requested by an affordable housing developer for the Overniter Motel, council members chose Tuesday to buy the 2-acre, 1500 W. North Temple property and put the project out to bid.
Those included uncertainty about financing or the expected percentage of units that would be affordable, as well as the council’s preference for a public process.
“This is $4 million of public money,” said Council Chairman Stan Penfold. “There’s a reason we want to see a process, because it’s unfair to every other developer in this community to say, ‘Well, we just did a deal with this developer because they came to us with a good proposal.