The Executive Inn Dilemma Continues

By: Don Counts, Editor; Ron Cosby, CEO; and Joe Wallace, Business Advisor

It has been reported during the past week that the option of refurbishing the Executive Inn is still on the table and that local developer, The Kunkel Group has an interest in taking on that task. The City County Observer is very curious to know just why this option is still being considered. John Kish is on record with the following quote, “The Executive Inn model has failed”, on August 18, 2010. Browning Investments has stated that the structural issues with the Executive Inn and the parking garage are so bad that building new is most cost effective solution for Evansville to have a convention hotel. Finally, the president of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission, Bob Goldman, has stated that he is reluctant to seek renovation proposals because it would discourage good developers from submitting ideas for new construction. Why spend the time and money needed to assemble a proposal only to be outbid by a cheap renovation plan, Goldman continued?

It seems as though the people in charge of this project have finally reached an agreement that the Executive Inn is not an appropriate candidate for refurbishment. The City County Observer agrees with this position and encourages the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to move rapidly to remove this option from the forthcoming Request for Proposal that is being developed. The citizens of Evansville have endured a two and a half year drama that started with an announcement by Browning and Mayor Weinzapfel that a new 4-Star hotel would be built in downtown Evansville, at a cost of $35 Million, if and only if an Arena was approved. That morphed down to a 3-Star refurbishment of the Executive Inn and finally last month to nothing as Browning has returned ownership of the dilapidated shell to the City of Evansville.

The Arena construction is humming along and seems to be on schedule for a fall 2011 opening. The hotel site is in limbo. This is not a time to vacillate or delay actions that are well known to all involved. The Arena will open in 14 months and if fast and appropriate action is taken now, a nationally branded Convention Hotel can be opening along with it. Now is the time to take step one. Lets commit to start with an unadulterated lot as opposed to something that has become the brick and mortar equivalent of that Halloween pumpkin left on the porch until Christmas. It is time for the wrecking ball to swing again. Simultaneously, allocate the time to put the RFP together as quickly as possible so that interested bidders can respond in time for construction to allow a fall 2011 opening.

It has been suggested that a 21C Museum Hotel would be a great brand to draw overnight visitors and conventions to Evansville. That may be so, but any of the 3-Star or 4-Star options previously discussed would be welcomed as well. One thing that we should all agree on is that a hotel is needed and that it has to reflect the quality of the Centre and the Arena.

It is now well known that significant public participation in financing a hotel will be necessary to attract a quality developer. Getting the people of Evansville on board to spend tax money for a hotel will be a difficult sell, yet it will have to be done or we will have a convention center and arena with no hotel. That will be a big problem. It is not a time to point fingers about the actions, inactions, and oversights that created the Executive Inn dilemma. It is time to get on about finding creative and effective ways to protect the $200 Million investments of public money that have given us the Centre and the Arena. Make haste, the Arena will be opening soon and the 2012 conventions will be making their choices too.

The City County Observer calls upon Mayor Weinzapfel to address this issue in the confines of his offices without any Indianapolis political advisors around to confuse the situation and put forward self serving recommendations. We would like to see the Jonathan Weinzapfel of old emerge from this dilemma as the leader that we became accustomed to during his first term. During his first term as Mayor, the majority of the people of Evansville were proud of the way he conducted business on behalf of Evansville. That was validated in his re-election landslide in 2007. The CCO will go on record as proud supporters of the first term of Mayor Weinzapfel. We encourage him to take this bull by the horns, put his mistakes behind him, and lead the effort that will result in an opening day for the Arena that he fought so hard for along with a new Convention Hotel at the same time.

Note: Louisville’s 21c Museum Hotel (http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2009/10/12/daily47.html) has been selected as the top hotel in the United States and the No. 6 hotel in the world in the 2009 Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards.