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St. James Hotel 

Project Impacts

Back to Project Details: St. James Hotel 
Impact on
LMI Individuals
& Communities

  • Full time employment
    for up to 41 LMI
    individuals
  • Provide 50%
    healthcare coverage
    to LMI individuals
  • Offer food security
    by providing on the
    job meals
The redeveloped and renovated St. James Hotel provided 36 jobs to local LMI individuals. The training they receive as part of these jobs, either from Wallace Community College, Selma Career Center or Alabama Works! increases their employability in the industry. LMI individuals also benefit from partial healthcare coverage, increasing healthcare utilization. Provision of meals during workdays reduces food costs for LMI employees, increasing surplus income and alleviating poverty.

Economic Impacts

  • 45
    permanent
    jobs

  • 90%
    LMI Jobs

  • Promote tourism
    and encourage
    local businesses

  • Increase payroll of local
    community, injecting wealth and
    resources in the neighborhood

The project created 45 full-time jobs (41 for local LMI individuals) in the hospitality sector. The hotel jobs pay a total aggregate payroll of $1.3 million annually. This generates an average annual income of $32,500, which is higher than the 2017 estimated tract median family income. Rhaglan Hospitality covers 50% of employee health care costs and provides free meals during days worked which helps the LMI community by reducing medical and food costs. The sponsor also worked with Selma Career Center, Alabama Works! and Wallace Community College Selma for sourcing potential employees, who were then trained by Hilton for specific positions mainly in the administration, front desk and sales departments. Each position offers the opportunity for advancement with the sponsor, Rhaglan Hospitality.
Job benefits include:
  • 50% healthcare coverage provided by the employer (Rhaglan) ; and
  • Free meals during workdays.

Economic
Development
Impacts

AREA REVITALIZATION​
The City of Selma has designed a Comprehensive Community Master Plan to promote and revitalize the downtown district.

Objectives include:
  • Redevelopment of vacant or underutilized buildings;
  • Expansion of hospitality venues and restaurants;
  • Utilization of historic downtown properties; and
  • Promotion of mixed-use development along the river to include residential, specialty commercial, restaurants and hospitality.
The St. James Hotel is in the downtown district, and its redevelopment fully aligns with the economic development priorities and objectives of the Comprehensive Community Master Plan. The renovated hotel with a full-service restaurant and meeting space provides dining and social amenities for both tourists and residents, which in turn increases tourism and consumer activity in the district. The activation of the hotel helps incubate other commercial and retail development in the targeted areas. City officials view the St. James Hotel as a cornerstone to foster additional redevelopment of Selma’s numerous historic properties that are eligible for historic tax credits.
ALIGNMENT WITH LOCAL REDEVELOPMENT PLANS

The City of Selma, through its Master Plan, hopes to retain the steady flow of tourists in Dallas County through hotels, restaurants and other attractions such as historic sites to increase local economic participation and generate a stimulus that revitalizes the region. The reopening of the St. James was a top priority for the Selma Redevelopment Authority (SRA), Mayor and City Council as they viewed the redevelopment of this historic civil rights landmark as essential to stabilizing the city’s population level and its economy. The St. James Hotel is the epicenter of these ambitions; its history as a hotel from the 19th century, its unique location on the Alabama River, its proximity to various historic sites and tourist attractions and its potential to attract tourism and generate revenue under management by Hilton made it one of the most important assets to develop for the Comprehensive Community Master Plan.

Community and
Social Impacts
The hotel is located very close to various historically significant locations. The hotel itself housed the Union Army during the end of the Civil War, and during the 1860’s was managed by Benjamin S. Turner, the first black US congressman. A century later one of the first desegregation acts in the state would occur in the Selma Dallas County Library, less than half a mile from the hotel. The library director Patricia Swift Blalock insisted on integrating the library and successfully did so on May 20, 1963.
Around the block from the hotel is the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where on March 7, 1965 around 600 civil right protestors were violently repressed and pushed back by local authorities. With dozens injured, the day came to be called “Bloody Sunday” and roused support for the civil rights movement.

Dr. King leading the march to Montgomery on March 21, 1965

The “Bloody Sunday” march on Edmund Pettus Bridge, March 7, 1065

The march from Selma to Montgomery (March 21, 1965) led by Dr. King and sensationalized across the nation, began at Brown Chapel AME Church, half a mile from the hotel. It was this march to Montgomery that garnered support for the civil rights movement nationally and from the White House. The rich history of this area is well documented and presented in the Selma Interpretive Center.
The redevelopment of this site increases tourist retention which in turn propagates the culture and history of the region. The redevelopment of the hotel is catalyzing other investments in the area that target historically important sites to increase tourism revenue, further preserving and promoting the history of the neighborhood.

Environmental Impacts

  • Adaptive Reuse of a National Historical Place (Register No. 11000509)
  • Build upon Brownfield remediation of Phase I site
  • Transit-Oriented Development: Located along City bus line
  • On-site and connected biking and walking paths
  • Takes optional steps to remediate the site and reduce exposure to contaminants
The renovation of 1994-1997 utilized material that we now know to be harmful. Material such as asbestos and lead based paint had been found in the building, and the redevelopment under Rhaglan removed the presence of such harmful substances in accordance with current code regulations.