The Rome City Commission has called a special meeting for today at 11:45 a.m. for one purpose: extending a memorandum of understanding with Samson Developers for the city-owned West Third Street property across from Barron Stadium.

The Samson Developers group, which includes David Doss, Duke Hospitality, architect Rick Standard and Hogan Construction, plans to build a hotel on the site. They currently have until Jan. 2 to close on a bid for the property.

“There has been a lot of movement in the last two or three weeks,” City Manager John Bennett told the board in an update earlier this week.

Original plans called for a hotel on the 2.2 acres that formerly housed the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority office, and a second phase on 2.2 adjacent acres with owner-occupied condominiums and retail shops.

Bennett said the focus for now is on the hotel site.

Doss said in a previous interview that his group has a letter of commitment from a major hotel chain, but that he did not want to disclose whom that was with until the board of directors gave formal approval to the deal when they meet within the next 60 days.

The property — which is off the tax rolls now — has been designated an Opportunity Zone. That means the new owners would get a $3,500 state tax credit for every job created.

It’s also eligible for Tax Allocation District financing, an available local incentive that would funnel the increase in taxable value back into the project.

“There’s been no discussion about it yet, but this would be TAD III,” Bennett told city and county officials during a joint services meeting.

The proposed $12.5 million investment would result in approximately $170,000 a year in new property taxes, he noted. Once the TAD expires, likely in 10 years, the money would be divided among Rome, Floyd County and the school systems according to their millage rates.

The City Commission’s meeting on the second floor of City Hall, 601 Broad St., is open to the public.