Drury Hotel Loses Bid to Slash Tax Bill By Nearly Half But Expansion Proceeds

Drury Plaza Hotel in Chesterfield lost a court bid Tuesday that would have slashed its assessment on the property from $23.1 million to $13.5 million, according to a blog on The Riverfront Times website.

The decision came down from the Missouri Court of Appeals.

The difference in taxes for the St. Louis-based chain of hotels is $254,000, the RFT blogger attributes to Sara Howard, a spokeswoman for St. Louis County. Nearly half of those tax dollars go to Parkway School District, the local public schools.

However on Monday night, Drury moved ahead with securing a zoning change from the City of Chesterfield in order to secure a deal with Hyatt Hotels to build a second tower at the Drury site.

The hotel is located along Highway 40/64 at Clarkson Road, beside Chesterfield Mall.

While a Drury representative refused to offer Patch details Monday, the Chesterfield city council moved ahead in an 8-0 vote to okay a reshuffling of the total number of hotel rooms allowed on the current site of the Drury.

According to city officials, the hotel deal would split up the 200-room count in a different way between the existing hotel and the one to be built.

A Drury representative said he expected a proposal to come before the city next month to build at the site.

Drury Plaza Hotel challenged the 2006 assessment on the Chesterfield property, but the process took five years, several court decisions and an appeal.