Connie, hope all is well. I have talked to the Mayor a couple of days ago and he indicated the vote will be on next Monday. He said he thought it would be a split vote. We have received several letters from area business leaders and many private citizens in support of the project.
The Mayor indicated there may be concern over the bond size. I suggested to him that the City could wait on the retail piece and storage and we could reduce the hotel to 225 rooms and eliminate some other space which would take 2 ml out of the hotel and 5 ml out of the retail which could reduce the bond size down to 30 ml.
I would really encourage the council to not drop this project as we really believe the Business leaders want this and it will finally get the conference center busy again with new people coming to town.
The City of Dallas just went thru this and they are very happy they made the decision to fund their new conference center next to the private hotel. Also the City of Manhattan is very pleased with their business and I would invite you to call Jason HILGERS (city manager) and get his comments.
The RFP issued over a year ago approved by the City, indicated there would be public finance for the project. This is the third RFP on this project and I believe this bond issue must have been expected. We have had a great relationship with labor and have the last draft of the PLA back from labor and would like to complete it and get them back to work. I would like to encourage you to visit with the Mayor about how this project can move forward and become a great asset of the City of Evansville.
Thank you for your time and leadership.
Rick (Huffman, the H in HCW)
PS. I am at the lodging conference in Phoenix this week and after listening to many speakers, I am more encouraged about this project than ever. Lots of talk about downtown projects by City’s.
With 9 people voting a split vote isn’t possible , is it ?
I don’t mind them wanting to negotiate the deal at all. If we all are ok with a hotel downtown, just disagree on the city funding such a ridiculous amount, then we should entertain other offers. I actually suggested before that the city look at paying for the city-type costs associated with the hotel; updating the Civic Center, building the parking garage (to be owned by the city), giving the builder the land since we would get property taxes from them we currently aren’t collecting, taking care of infrastructure like street/sidewalk updates, and maybe even some of the cost of the sky bridges. This would bring down the cost of the city to a much smaller amount, and would separate the private/public payouts to eliminate the moral issue of taking money from other hotels to pay into another hotel. Not a perfect concrete plan, but a start, and much better than the administrations paying for half of a private business.
Now Evansville is being compared with Dallas, which is in the top 10 largest cities in the United States. Give me a break, pleeeezzzzz.
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It seems to me that the “letters from various business leaders” are a problem. Remember the group of $10,000.00/year dues payers that lurk behind many deals in Evansville (the name of this organization escapes me just now). These folks could come up with $37.5 million and yet they want the public as a whole to share the burden. And maybe I run in the wrong circles but I know exactly zero of these private citizens that are flag waving for this give away. My guess is that these businesses and citizens think they will prosper somehow by this hotel and don’t give a damn about the city as a whole and its future financial condition. Slick PR letter full of hot air.
It is the Evansville Regional Business Committee
Thank you.
Martha: “… and don’t give a damn about the city as a whole and its future financial condition.”
It is sad you think that. You are flat wrong.
Not a nickel without submitting to a full and certain vetting process.
Not a nickel without a business plan to review.
IMHO: Lloyd Winnecke cannot be trusted to tell the truth or to not withhold truth.
Remember, as County Commissioner he withheld the fact that the Homestead Property Tax Exemption would be denied across Vanderburgh County.
Mistake, or breach of trust?
This Huffman guy is sounding more and more like a time-share peddler. Can’t gimme $37.5 M, how about $30M? I bet he drops his price again before Monday. You guys at the CCO and Brad Lindsey need to get a commission on every dollar under $37.5 M that these fools end up giving away.
Yes, and you noticed that the one thing that could not be cut was the apartments.
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Stop the presses, stop the presses. We can not have any convention business unless we have at least 250 rooms, but, Hundre says 240-270…so, if we are missing out on those conventions with rooms under 250, then, why 225, why not 150-170…wouldn’t it have the same result, no convention business…boy, where in the hell is Rod Sterling the host of the twilight Zone, oh, I forgot, we have Rob Hunden….
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