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l <br /> November 2,2015 <br /> touchstone <br /> Mr. Ray Stephanson,Mayor <br /> Mr.Scott Bader,Council President <br /> City of Everett <br /> 2930 Wetmore Ave, <br /> Everett,WA 98201 <br /> RE:Modifications to the exterior of the Everett Courtyard Hotel <br /> Dear Mayor Stephenson and Councilmember Bader, <br /> Touchstone Everett Hotel LLC is the developer of a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel on land in <br /> downtown Everett purchased from the City of Everett. The purchase agreement requires Touchstone to <br /> seek City approval of any"material modifications"to the approved plans and specs for the project. <br /> Touchstone desires to make four modifications which it believes are not material but which the City staff <br /> considers material. Modifications which are material require the approval,not to be unreasonably <br /> withheld,of the City. <br /> Rather than argue the question of whether each of the modifications is material,Touchstone is <br /> requesting that the City consider whether the modifications are reasonable. if the City decides any of <br /> the modifications are both material and not reasonable,then Touchstone can either accept the City's <br /> determination and not make that modification or challenge the City's determination as to either the <br /> question of materiality or the question of reasonableness. <br /> It is worth noting at this point that the project was designed to meet the criteria set out by the City in <br /> the RFP for an eight story hotel with retail on the corner of Colby and Wall streets,and that no other <br /> developer was willing to accept these criteria. The purchase agreement entered into by Touchstone and <br /> the City incorporated these criteria. The total budget for the project has grown from the original$26 <br /> million to over$32.3 million,and the equity invested in the project is$11.5 million. Nearly half of the <br /> total budget,including all of Touchstone's equity, has already been spent on the project. Completion of <br /> the building is projected to occur by April 1,2016,with the opening of the hotel scheduled for lune 1, <br /> 2016. It has always been Touchstone's objective to build a quality hotel that will be an asset to the <br /> owners and to the City over the long term. <br /> The four modifications relate to 1)replacing metal panels with stucco on several surfaces; 2)eliminating <br /> the so-called"eyebrows";3) putting in room vents for HVAC;and,4)shortening the elevator enclosure. <br /> Each is discussed below. The originally approved rendering representing our commitment to what the <br /> building would substantially look like was created well before the construction documents were <br /> 2 <br />