Washington’s City Council, during its Dec. 14 meeting, authorized the mayor to sign documents related to building a hotel next to fire station No. 2 on West 15^th Street.

In August, the city was notified it had been awarded a $100,000 grant to provide the publicly owned utilities to the 87-room hotel. The project developer, New Age Properties, is required by the grant conditions to contribute $101,400 toward the project, with the city providing $5,000, which the developer agrees to reimburse the city. The project’s budget is estimated at $206,400, according to a city document.

A grant project ordinance approved by the City Council shows $149,800 allocated for construction, $24,500 appropriated for engineering design, $9,500 allocated for construction administration/observation, $7,600 earmarked for legal fees and $15,000 allocated for contingency.

The hotel will include a restaurant, according to information supplied to the city’s Planning Board. The board will have some say in the design and appearance of the hotel.

The grant terms require that 20 jobs be created and those jobs are maintained for a minimum of six consecutive months.

In April, the council changed the zoning classification of the 3.47-acre hotel site on 15^th Street Extension from a residential classification to a business classification.

During a meeting in June, the council authorized the mayor to sign an application for a N.C. Rural Infrastructure grant and enter into an agreement with the Mid-East Commission for it to prepare the grant application. The city will pay the commission $2,500 to prepare the grant and administer it.

The N.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority approved that grant in August. The hotel will house 87 rooms, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce. The hotel will be the anchor tenant on a 15-parcel commercial and light industrial property, according to the department.

New Age Properties plans to invest about $6.8 million to build the hotel and create about 20 jobs, according to the department. The estimated cost for sewer lines and street infrastructure that would serve the hotel comes to $424,000, with $100,000 of that cost being paid for by the grant, according to a memorandum from Matt Rauschenbach, the city’s administrative services director and chief financial officer.