The City County Observer has conducted an exclusive interview with an officer of Woodruff Hospitality where we have learned many details about the coming proposal of the company to finance and construct a 220 room Hyatt Place hotel on the site of the current Executive Inn parking garage.
The Hyatt Place brand has typically been built in much larger cities to serve niches within large markets with 160 – 180 rooms per hotel. According to Woodruff officials, the Hyatt Corporation was so impressed by the Evansville opportunity that they have committed to a significant equity investment in the Downtown Evansville Hyatt Place. The fact that Evansville investment dollars were brought to the table served to sufficiently impress the Hyatt Corporation, the Pritzker family, and the private investment group that provided the debt financing to seal the viability of the proposal.
The proposal will be comprehensive and include a subterranean parking garage with approximately 300 places to replace the lost parking spaces due to the demolition of the Executive Inn parking tower. The decision to go down instead of out to replace the parking will stave off the need that has been perceived for the City of Evansville to acquire additional property to construct a parking tower.
Woodruff Hospitality will be proposing a solution that includes the demolition of the remainder of the existing Executive Inn and the design and construction of T shaped elevated walk bridge over Walnut St. and Martin Luther King Blvd. to allow Hyatt Place customers indoor access to both the Centre and the Evansville Arena. Additionally the land under the Executive Inn will become a tasteful load out zone to serve the new Arena. This was especially important as a convenient load out was not included in any previous layouts.
The cost of the project is currently estimated to be just under $40 Million and the duration to be about 3 months of demolition and site preparation followed by 14 to 16 months of actual construction. The details of the proposal with respect to the contributions and incentives of the City of Evansville have not yet been finalized. In the interview it was divulged that the City of Evansville will only be asked to pay for the problems that were created apart from the hotel itself. The potential value of the Downtown Hyatt Place Hotel is recognized as a great opportunity by the locally lead investment group and their proposal reflects that recognition.
If all of the decisions on the part of the City of Evansville are timely, the permitting process is expedited, and no unforeseeable circumstances occur Downtown Evansville will be standing proudly at the grand opening of a new Hyatt Place Hotel in the Spring or Summer of 2012.
The Evansville Hyatt Place that will be proposed by Woodruff Hospitality plans to lean on the many years of expertise in hotel management by the Hyatt Corporation to manage this hotel.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation that conducted an initial public offering (IPO) in 2009 is currently trading at an all time high of $45.98 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol H.
Very pleased that the hotel problem is being solved in this way. My thanks to Woodruff Hospitality for a professional, considered proposal. By the way, has anyone noticed that $40 million will buy a 220 room hotel, a 300 space underground parking garage, an elevated walkway, and the demo of the Executive Inn while 8 baseball fields were proposed to cost about half of that at $18 million? Evansville needs to step back, get the big picture, and make some good longrange plans. Let’s slow down and think!
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