Luxury Hotel Planned For Harpers Ferry Gets Special Tax Status

Years in the making, a luxury hotel planned for Harpers Ferry has just moved closer to becoming a reality.

The Jefferson County Commission voted unanimously to grant the Hill Top House Hotel the status of tax increment financing (TIF) district on Aug. 1. The TIF program grants financial support to development projects in areas that are considered to be in need of revitalization.

The project is planned for the site of a historic nineteenth-century Harpers Ferry hotel that overlooks the Potomac River. The property fell into disrepair by the early twenty-first century.

Sites within a TIF district have their property value frozen for a number of years, during which property owners can develop on those sites without facing increased property taxes. This aims to help businesses and development projects get off the ground with fewer starting costs.

In an April email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Karen Schaufeld, CEO of SWaN & Legend Venture Partners — the Virginia-based investment group leading the project — said receiving a TIF district designation was a “financial necessity” to complete the project.

But the project has been repeatedly stalled by some community members’ concerns that it is too large in scale for the small community, fitted with an underground parking garage, on-site restaurant and public green space.

Sitting commissioners have voiced support for the project, but some expressed logistical concerns over the speed of the TIF district application process. Ultimately, those concerns were outweighed by the commission’s support for the project, affirmed by its unanimous vote this week.

In the months ahead, SWaN executives will work through bond agreements with the Jefferson County Commission, as reported by local newspaper Spirit of Jefferson.

While there is no set timeline for when the hotel’s construction will begin, SWaN executives estimate it will take up to two years to complete.