The Selma City Council voted to sell the St. James Hotel to a developer out of Illinois for $100,000 during Thursday night’s meeting.

The decision is still not final as another vote will have to be taken to approve the final ordinance to sell the property.

The council voted to sell the historic landmark to Janee Hotel Corporation and president Kenneth Moore. Council President Corey Bowie and members Bennie Ruth Crenshaw, Michael Johnson, Susan Keith and B.L. Tucker voted to sell the hotel, while Greg Bjelke, Sam Randolph and Cecil Williamson voted against the deal.

Moore has been to multiple council meetings over the past few months and initially made an offer to pay $500,000 for the hotel. With that deal, he wanted tax incentives and for the city to retain partial ownership for six years. The $100,000 offer is cash.

Keith said Moore has the financial backing to put $4.5 million of renovations and expansions into the hotel.

According to Moore, his company has bought, renovated and sold more than 17 branded hotels since 2009 and currently owns seven hotels across the country, including a Four Points by Sheraton, two LaQuinta Inn and Suites and a Best Western Premier.

The city paid $12,000 for an appraisal in May that showed the hotel to be worth $900,000 and had been discussing listing the property with a real estate company out of Atlanta that specializes in the sale of hotels. The real estate group would have charged the city a flat $70,000 commission regardless of what the hotel eventually sold for.

“If circumstances were ordinary, I would say let’s hold out. If we list the hotel, maybe we will get more money, maybe we will not,” Keith said.

“This man is ready to buy the hotel. He is ready to get started immediately.”

Williamson, who has advocated closing the hotel while the search for a buyer goes on, said he couldn’t believe the council would sell the hotel for $100,000. The St. James has been costing the city about $25,000 a month to keep open.

“It’s just mind-blogging to me that we would sell this property that’s worth at least $900,000 for $100,000,” Williamson said.

Bjelke agreed the amount was too low.

“Y’all c’mon — that’s way too cheap. I can’t even believe anyone would bring that to us. That’s an insult,” Bjelke said.

Other council members said it was time to sell given the drain the hotel has put on the city for past year and a half.

“Who knows if this is going to sell or not,” Johnson said. “We have to do something if we have to ask the young men to come back and make a better offer to us. We need to move as quickly as we can and do something.”