Help the CCO Vet the Hotel Proposals

Both Proposals are Available Online to the Public

Link to proposals:

http://evansvillegov.org/Index.aspx?page=277

The City of Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development today released the entire contents of the proposals submitted by both the Kunkel Group and Prime Lodging LLC. As the summer of 2011 is becoming the summer of vetting in Evansville we would like to enlist the assistance of our Moles and Friends to do some preliminary vetting of these proposals.

What we would like to accomplish is to end up with an accurate list of the differences between the two proposals. Stick to the facts that you dig out of the proposals. What we are looking for in particular are areas of difference on which one company may be deemed to have an advantage by a third party reviewer.

For example, the hotels both have proposed 220 rooms so that does not constitute a difference.

The parking solutions however are quite different. The Kunkel proposal includes a 500 space parking tower behind the hotel but also stipulates that a number of the spaces must be leased back from them by the City of Evansville. The Prime proposal addresses parking with an underground parking area with 330 spaces similar to the Central Library with surface parking at street level with no lease back requirement from the City.

These differences are ripe with arguments to be made either way and backed up with definitive numbers. At this point we have not done this analysis and are not ready to anoint either parking solution as best. We do want to hear from our readers with opinions but mostly with financial analysis.

Both documents contain pro-forma documents with occupancy assumptions, room rate assumptions, expense projections, etc., etc., etc. Dig in and identify the differences and make a case one way or the other. We also welcome objective input from the bidders but respectfully request that you identify yourselves.

Let the Vetting Begin. This will be an enjoyable exercise and we will all learn from it.

Ultimately the real vetting committee will have to do a stress test on the finances of these proposals and decide which one has the highest probability of success given the history, the partnerships, and the resources at hand. Then there is the question of the $22 Million or so that each developer will need to really make this happen.