In a move that has been speculated for months the Evansville Redevelopment Commission has made the recommendation that Kunkel’s proposal should advance to build and operate the long time coming downtown Convention Hotel. It was stated by ERC Chairman Bob Goldman that the Hunden Strategic Partners had advised the recommendation of Kunkel. No study or written statement by Hunden was made available to anyone.
Marco DeLucio, attorney asked for the study to be released and for the ERC to table the decision until the Hunden study had been released but his action was to no avail as the ERC moved the proposal forward.
Kunkel representatives stated that they are considering both the Hyatt and Sheraton brands for the hotel. There was no mention of when either the construction will start or when the hotel will open for business
After the meeting Evansville City Councilman John Friend, CPA, Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, and Arena project manager John Kish were seen in the hallway engaged in a very intense discussion about the recommendation but parted with handshakes and smiles.
Kunkel has two more administrative hoops to jump through for this project to be a reality. The most important of these steps is a vote of the full Evansville City Council on whether or not to fund the ERC recommendation.
This is a developing story:
All I can say is I told so many times over………
“Kunkel has two more administrative hoops to jump through for this project to be a reality. The most important of these steps is a vote of the full Evansville City Council on whether or not to fund the ERC recommendation. ”
LOL….like that won’t happen with the puppet-council? the nagging question is how much is it going to cost the taxpayers? $20m,$30m or the ever popular figure of $40m
Thanks Johnny, not like we didn’t see this coming, now please pay Klenck for cleaning up the property with the last bit of change left in the till.
Good luck Mr Mayor Elect….you are gonna have a heck of a time steering this ship without a rudder. 😉
JMHO
“After the meeting Evansville City Councilman John Friend, CPA, Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, and Arena project manager John Kish were seen in the hallway engaged in a very intense discussion about the recommendation but parted with handshakes and smiles.”
They probably became all smiles when Friend was assured that if he helped this sail through the City Council that Kunkel would throw some accounting business his way.
Along with the assurance the council will also be considering a motion to change the city charter to change the name of our fair city to “Kunkelville” or was that a dream I had? ;0
JMHO
It is unfortunate that this golden opportunity to turn this vacant property into a five to six level open parking lot will be lost forever! Along with this golden opportunity the Victory, Arena, and Centre will all suffer. A new downtown hotel could have been built on any of the other twenty empty blocks downtown. —–Once we lose this spot for parking we will live with this blunder for the next 50 years!
Excellent. Thank you mayor for picking the Kunkel Group. Although it is probably going to cost more it is a far better plan and is well worth it in the long run. I hope they still plan on building a pavillion and restaurant on the Arena block.
Fabulous to see the utterly clueless City and ERC that bungled the McCurdy project for 4 years to the tune of $1.5 million loss, is now making very hasty decisions without disclosing Hunden report we taxpayers paid for. Mr. Goldman and all other members of the ERC should resign given their complete incompetence on both the McCurdy and Executive Inn projects.
Power without Consience has been a terrible thing for the Citizenry to Edure.
Weinzapfel and Company, the Worst Administration in Evansville’s History!
cant go against that
Man.
It would be logical that the “studies” that the city pays for would actually be read.
If not considered, at least looked at.
No?
The CCO did a Freedom of Information Act request for the Hunden study and any note or presentations pertaining to this downtown hotel. They have to supply it within 20 business days. Our intention is to publish it in full. It is our belief that keeping this information from the public when it is taxpayer money that paid for the study is not only callous but may even constitute a violation of the law. Do these people think we can’t read? If the report was so glowing to merit an endorsement they should be proud to release it to the media. IS IT TRUE that we have it from two of our moles that there is no formal report at all. More on this tomorrow.
The financing is the key. That should be the area of concentration when comparing the proposals. The amount of “sweetening” the city adds to the pot should be exactly the same for either company in order for this to be a fair process.
__
Keep up the great work-the CCO is really the taxpayers watchdog as the departing City administration has done all it can to keep important information from the public they are supposed to serve.
A good friend of mine told me that John Friend was saying today that the Kunkel Group seemed like a more stable choice than Prime because most of Prime’s funding would likely come from EB-5 funding. He told this person that Kunkel had $5 million in government secured loans. If he claims that no one, including himself, has seen the Hunden report than how does he know so much about each groups funding options? And if there’s any truth to Kunkel having $5 million waiting who is it coming from? Why are we being kept in the dark? Good ‘ol boys til the end.
$5m is chump change, it might pay the franchise fees for the first 10 years of operation, it certainly won’t build a hotel.
The link below will show the average franchise fees for typical hotel chains and of course isn’t up to date data.
http://www.hvs.com/Bookstore/2009FFGuide.pdf
Regardless of the $5m in credit or cash it will hardly even jump start the project without a whole lot more capital….which will come from where?
JMHO
We have been told for 3 years that City Centre Properties was one signature away from closing on a government backed loan. So how is this different and why would the results be any different.
John Friend knows better than this, the question is whether or not he will vote with his brain or for his master? Friend is trying to play both sides and he is gonna get burned this time. You can’t be a champion of the people’s money and a good old boy insider at the same time.
Which one are you John Friend? Do you stand with the people of Evansville or with the shamed mayor.
If in the next city election the electorate doesn’t vote in a majority Republican government this stupid little ville is finished.
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