If you asked the community leaders, “What is our biggest need?”, the answer would be housing. The City and the Industrial Foundation have partnered to address that need. Planning is underway for an upscale planned community on land south of the School, and the City is working on affordable housing on a nearby site.
Now… if you say, “What is our next most important need?”, you may get different answers from different people, but the most popular answer will be a hotel. The Industrial Foundation is working on that.
The Industrial Foundation owns 6.87 acres behind Starbucks, with connections to I-30 and Hwy 37 through the Starbucks entries. It is the perfect location for a hotel.
Industrial Foundation President Len Lowry has asked Mike May to take the lead in contacting the hotel chains that we would like to attract. Mike is a good choice for that role, but it’s going to be a challenge. The first question a hotel representative will ask is “What is the population of Mount Vernon?” Mike will likely respond with something like “Mount Vernon is the center of the Mount Pleasant – Mount Vernon - Sulphur Springs corridor with a combined population of 34,000”.
The hotels have been down this road before. They are accustomed to cities trying to present the numbers in a favorable light, so they will fact-check everything we say. They will ask Google for the population of Mount Vernon. All of Google’s responses are based on the 2020 census, so Google will say, “The population of Mount Vernon is 2633”. At this point in the conversation, we are swimming upstream. Unless we can present a compelling case, the conversation is over.
But… we have a compelling case. The location at the intersection of I-30 and Hwy 37 is a big selling point. It’s going to get the attention of any hotel representative, and the proximity to Starbucks is a plus. The breakeven point for a hotel is typically 60% occupancy. At our location, the highway traffic alone will produce an occupancy rate of about 40%. The local events (business travel, sporting events at the School and County sports complex, funerals, weddings, graduations, festivals such as Country Fest, etc.) will push the occupancy rate well above the breakeven point
Given our current demand, we have a strong case for a profitable 3-story, 60-room hotel. If we look ahead 3 years, we can make a good case for a 3-story, 100-room hotel. We can point to rapid growth in hotel room demand from:
• Lithium extraction in Franklin County. GeoFrame plans to drill the first production well this year, and Standard Lithium has accelerated its plans for Franklin County. Production plants with about 200 highly paid employees will follow.
• a new aluminum plant in Winfield. That's another 200 employees
• a new data center (maybe) in Sulphur Springs. Some, maybe most, of the employees are likely to choose Mount Vernon as the place to call home.
• new life in the railroad from a new owner.
In addition to the region's rapid population growth, many people who work in neighboring counties choose to live in Franklin County. The attraction of Mount Vernon comes from:
• Lake Cypress Springs, the prettiest lake in Texas. Lots of people would love to live on the Lake if they can afford it. Even if they don’t live there, they can enjoy the recreational benefits.
• The School. Mount Vernon ISD has a strong reputation, and the appeal will be further enhanced by the current renovation, scheduled to be completed by Christmas. From the planned community south of the School, students will be able to walk directly to school.
• and the friendly, country culture of Mount Vernon.
It takes 18-36 months to build a hotel from the initial planning to the grand opening. If a hotel wants the first-mover advantage, the time to start the process is now.
Can we convince a top hotel chain to build here? We’re about to find out. Stay tuned. It’s going to be FUN!
