Paducah having new additions added on to their city

PADUCAH Ky. (KBSI) – Paducah city commission approving a big development agreement to help other Paducah businesses who are overflowed with tourists.

The Mayor of Paducah George Bray says that each year more tourists come to Paducah. 

He wants to have other open hotels flooding with tourists especially with the 2026 Sports Complex that’s being built. 

Bray thinks a new hotel would take a lot of pressure off of the hotels already booked up in Paducah. 

“We started construction on our new outdoor sports park called Paducah Sports Park and it’s going to be completed in 2026. It’s going to put us on the map for sports tourism. We’re going to tap into the sports tourism market, and we’re going to need new hotel rooms,” said Bray.

The city announced they were building a new hotel owned by a private investor company called USA Capital. 

“We got private investors who come in and are going to build a hotel next to the Holiday Inn that’s there now so there’s no city money being spent so it’s private investors that come in and build a hotel,” said Bray.

This property has been on the market for some time and during the pandemic it pushed the idea of building on this property back. 

The city of Paducah is ready to get their hands dirty on 519 North Third Street in Paducah. 

This hotel has a 15-million-dollar development agreement and will work closely next to the Convention Center and Holiday Inn at Paducah’s Riverfront.

Michelle Franke is the General Manager for the Holiday Inn at Paducah’s Riverfront. 

She says she hates turning tourists away but when they’re booked up she has no other choice. 

“Several days throughout the year that we are booked, we do have to turn people away. There’s other hotels closer to the interstate. We do expect the sports complex to bring in more business traveling teams over the past few years,” said Franke. 

Franke says they’re just a minute walk away from the Convention Center and it bring in a lot of attraction.

She says being in the area and seeing Paducah growing she wants to work with other businesses to keep Paducah a happy and healthy city. 

“Collectively, if we work towards these new markets, it could help as a whole. That’s helping your downtown merchants that’s helping restaurants. It’s helping everything local, and it doesn’t matter what Aspect of the hospitality industry we are in. If we work together as a team under one umbrella, we certainly can bring more business in,” said Franke.

Mayor Bray is expecting the new Hotel and Sports Complex to take 24 months for construction. He’s expecting both to be built in 2026.