VIDALIA — The City of Vidalia approved an agreement Tuesday with the Desai Hotel Group that will allow the hotel developer to pay back money the city plans to spend on infrastructure for the project. 

The Desai Hotel Group, which is building a TownePlace Suites by Marriott on the Vidalia Riverfront near Promise Hospital, will pay an additional 2-percent occupational tax as well as an extra 2-percent sales tax to fund the work until the city’s investment in infrastructure is repaid.

Concordia Parish Economic Development Director Heather Malone said the city is funding the parking lot, driveway and drainage for the hotel. She said work, which will cost the city $627,500, would begin soon.

“They are finalizing a few planning items on their end and once they give us the go, we are ready to begin,” Malone said.

The company was approved previously to use a Tax-Increment Financing bond from the city. TIF bonds are used to build infrastructure for economic development projects using the project’s future tax revenues as financing.

Womack and Sons Construction in Harrisonburg, La., had the lowest bid for the construction contract for the city.

The hotel is a 51,000-square foot, three-story structure with 90 guest rooms. It has been characterized as an extended-stay hotel.

Desai already owns the Holiday Inn Express in Natchez and has leased 3.7 acres on the Vidalia Riverfront since July 2014. The lease agreement calls for annual payments of $33,000 an acre for five years for the right to use the land for 99 years.