IS IT TRUE? December 21, 2010 Part 2: The Hotel
IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission has five members all of whom are political appointments?….that there must be a quorum present to call for a vote?…that three members of the ERC showed up but no vote was taken?….that John Kish, Arena project manager supplied the ERC with a resolution that must be voted on to move forward with the next phase of the Downtown Convention Hotel project?….that the resolution calls upon the ERC to authorize writing a new Request for Proposals for a Downtown Convention Hotel and spells out further the kinds of incentives that the City of Evansville is willing to offer a future developer?….that the next meeting of the ERC is in January?….that we surely hope that a vote is taken at the January meeting?….that the lateness of the writing of the resolution and the failure to call for a vote have delayed the project by at least another month?
IS IT TRUE that the resolution requests the City of Evansville to provide financial assistance to the to be determined hotel developer in the amount of $8.0 Million?….that $3.5 Million of those dollars will be coming from Casino Aztar Downtown Fund and the other $4.5 Million from the Downtown TIF?….that Casino Aztar owns and operates the only two hotels in Downtown Evansville and may just take offense to seeing their contributions used to fund a competitor?….that the President of the ERC acknowledged that fact but was assured by counsel that it was all legal?
IS IT TRUE that it was clearly stated that the City of Evansville will be offering the incentive of FREE LAND, along with cash incentives to demolish the Executive Inn and the parking lot, to construct 305 parking spaces, and to build a crosswalk to the Centre and the Arena?…..that not a word was spoken regarding the 10 year tax phase in that will carry a value of roughly $3M that has previously been disclosed?….that the City of Evansville between the tax phase-in, the cash incentives, and the FREE LAND will be asking the ERC and the City Council to authorize an incentive package worth between $13 Million and $15 Million to the developer of the Downtown Convention Hotel?….that the hotel alone will carry a construction price tag of approximately $25 Million?
IS IT TRUE that the Downtown Convention Hotel project will cost roughly $40 Million and that the City of Evansville will be incentivizing that project by roughly $15 Million?….that the City County Observer predicted exactly these numbers over six months ago?….that a decision on the developer will not be made until February and that the dilly dallying has cost so much time that the hotel will not open until late 2012 or even into 2013?….that if politics would have stayed out of the process and proper planning would have been done back in 2007-2008 that the new hotel and the Arena would both be opening in the fall of 2011 at a lower price to the City of Evansville?
