KC convention hotel developers seek new lease deal to reduce potential income taxes

A potential federal income tax issue has prompted developers of the planned Kansas City Convention Center hotel to request a two-part lease arrangement.

KC Hotel Developers LLC is asking the city’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority to lease the future hotel tower to the developers but lease the hotel’s meeting rooms and parking garage to the Kansas City Convention Center Headquarters Hotel Community Improvement District.

Under existing plans for what now is slated to be a Loews hotel, the redevelopment authority will own the entire property within the designated urban renewal area at Truman Road and Wyandotte Avenue. The new request wouldn’t change the authority’s ownership as proposed in 2015.

“And there would be no change in the public incentives going into the project as a result of the request,” said Roxsen Koch, attorney for the developers. “The impact of this request is that it will provide better income tax planning for the private developers in the deal. Public participation is not income to the developer, and we don’t want the IRS to treat it as income.”

Koch said separating the leases could help protect the private developers from having the Internal Reveue Service possibly consider the public participation as federally taxable income connected to the garage and meeting rooms part of the project.

“There’s still some public incentives going to the hotel tower side” but it’s minimal compared to the other part of the project, Koch said. “This is income tax planning to avoid unintended consequences.”

By statute, the redevelopment authority must first issue a request for proposals regarding the property leasing, a requirement for whenever the agency disposes of property, including by lease.

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 12:01 PM with the headline "KC convention hotel developers seek new lease deal to reduce potential income taxes."