VIDALIA — A nationwide hotel franchise has committed to build a new location on the Vidalia Riverfront.

Holiday Inn has committed to build a 100 room full-service hotel, Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

“It will certainly be an asset in recruiting conventions and conferences to the area,” he said.

Holiday Inn will likely hire 50-75 employees once it has opened, Copeland said.

The names of the hotel’s backers were not disclosed at a Tuesday Riverfront Authority meeting, authority President Ralph Shields III said.

The hotel will be located south of the Mississippi River Bridge in the lot next to the new Promise Hospital of the Miss-Lou, Copeland said.

The authority also voted to assign a lease to Promise Hospital.

The lease for the property the hospital will be built on was assigned to Twin Oaks Holding Company, LLC.

“I guess (the holding company) didn’t have any use for the property any longer,” Shields said.

Construction of the hospital is slated to begin in October.

The authority also voted to approve a resolution that would allow for a 6 percent occupancy tax to be levied against hotels and non-hospital boarding houses on the riverfront.

The riverfront district was declared by the legislature to be its own political subdivision in July, and is allowed to levy the occupancy tax but is not allowed to approve any other taxes or adjust the tax’s rate to more than 6 percent.

The Riverfront Authority approved an identical resolution in early June but had to revisit the issue for legal reasons, Shields said.

“We had to re-approve it because (the legislative resolution allowing the tax) did not go into effect until June 18,” he said.

The tax will go into effect Oct. 1.