September 11, 2014

The Hampton Inn you subsidized

A new Hampton Inn has opened in Lewiston, ME, but the Sun Journal forgot to mention in its story something it reported some time back, namely that it was built with a subsidy from the Agriculture Department which is actually meant to be helping farmers in Maine and elsewhere.

Sun Journal, ME - Developers will receive a $7 million guaranteed loan to help build a 93-room Hampton Inn on Lincoln Street. The $7,023,258 USDA Rural Development Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan to Lincoln Street Hoteliers LLC will be in partnership with Machias Savings Bank..

The $12.3 million facility is expected to contribute to the city’s continuing downtown redevelopment efforts. It would be marketed as a three-star hotel, slightly less expensive than Auburn's Hilton Garden Inn Riverwatch hotel on the other side of the Androscoggin River.

The purpose of USDA Rural Development’s Business & Industry Guaranteed Loan Program is to improve, develop or finance business, industry and employment and improve the economic and environmental climate in rural communities.

USDA Rural Development has invested a total of $402.5 million in Maine communities in the last fiscal year.

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