A new Fairfield Inn and Suites should soon take the place of the closed Harry’s Restaurant & Bar.

The Fairfield, a Marriott brand, will have about 125 rooms and a two-story parking garage along with event space on the almost 1-acre site at 2144 Market Street. Developer Equis Hospitality Management of Brentwood hopes to finalize financing for the $19.5 million project by January and begin construction in January.

“We’ve been looking downtown since 2008 for this specific brand,” Equis Hotels’ chief development officer Gregory Mullenix told a city development board Tuesday.

Mullenix said the shape of the site makes development tough, but that the hotel will have a “custom urban design.” Construction is expected to wrap up by April 2019.

The city’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority advanced a measure that would exempt the project from sales tax on construction materials. St. Louis economic development chief Otis Williams was quick to add that the impact on the city was small because most materials are not purchased within city limits.

The measure passed by LCRA also would facilitate five years of 90 percent property tax abatement.