IS IT TRUE? February 21, 2012
IS IT TRUE that the Winnecke Administration is asking the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to authorize hiring Hunden Strategic Partners of Chicago to do a study to tell them just what size of a Convention Hotel that downtown Evansville can support?…that unfortunately the past administration was so haphazard in its definition of hotels that there does not necessarily seem to be any consensus on what size a new Convention hotel should be or even whether or not one is needed as opposed to wanted?…that Hunden Strategic Partners was most recently in the news as being hired to VET the proposals of the Kunkel Group and Prime Lodging during the hottest six month period of the last downtown Convention Hotel fiasco?…that Hunden must think by now that they have a load of bumpkins down here in Evansville that will just pay for study after study?…that not only has the City of Evansville paid for study after study but it seems like some magical force (or machine) are telling the consultants what to write?
IS IT TRUE that yes if there is to be a serious consideration to put so much as a dime of public money into a downtown Convention Hotel then four years after the fact there probably does need to be a study?…that this study should include any rooms in a Grand New McCurdy as part of its considerations?…that a Grand New McCurdy would at least be unique and would have the potential to draw tourist dollars on its own merit?…that consideration should also be given to Casino Aztar’s one time offer to expand their hotel UP by about 140 rooms?…that if the Ford Center really is the economic growth engine that it was sold as there may be a way to get the rooms that MAY BE NEEDED without spending public money?…that solution would involve the McCurdy and Aztar but will most certainly not involve any new Convention Hotel on the corner of MLK & Walnut?
IS IT TRUE that the economics of the situation have not changed since the last time the CCO addressed this issue?…that when the lights are on and the rooms are full that a Downtown Convention Hotel will be rent for about $100 per night and have no more than 60% occupancy?…that the valuation by cash flow method will be about $91,000 per room?…that the entire project including the skywalk, the parking lot, the hotel, infrastructure, and amenities will cost closer to $160,000 per room?…that this leaves a shortage of in the range of $15 Million for the 220 room hotel that the Weinzapfel Administration was hoping for?…that the current incentive package of $8 Million did not fill that gap?…that early in the process an experienced builder and operator of hotels in Indiana, White Lodging was rejected for this very reason?…that if back during the days when the former Mayor, his administration, and consultants were playing Monopoly and doing Donald Trump imitations that they could have done one thing that would have gotten a proven operator?…that one thing would have been to have coughed up what it took to get White Lodging to take on the Downtown Evansville Convention Hotel?
IS IT TRUE that this is not an endorsement of pumping $15 Million of public money into a downtown hotel project?…that this is simply yet another REALITY CHECK for the City of Evansville and the new Evansville Redevelopment Commission?…that starting down the primrose path of “GOOD OLD BOY†politics, consultant reports to tell the powers that be what they want to hear, and delusional economic expectations will most likely lead to the same kind of results?…that we hope that the City of Evansville and the ERC get something right this time around?…that the same old good old boy crony capitalistic ways need to be over in River City?
Yep absolutely, Hunden did such a great job on the vetting of hotel bidders last go-round, combined with the state-of-the-art power point presentation and their highly regarded recommendations it should be more money well spent. (sarcasm in full force!)
JMHO
blanger, did you mean highly regarded or highly retarded?
Pappa….
The latter is most fitting, but it’s early in the new mayor’s term, I’m trying to be nice and optimistic…you know hope for the best, but you know it’s starting to look like strings are still being pulled, the mayor can surround himself with the best the community has to offer but if he keeps listening to whoever he is listening to we are destine to stay in this rut that Weinzapfel put us in.
So far I’m unimpressed with the leadership he’s showing, but as always it is JMHO.
Mayor Winnecke inherited several completely screwed up projects from the former regime. A special shout out to the former ERC for their multi-year “handling” of the McCurdy and Executive Inn projects.
that’s putting it politley Joe, and with some of the holdovers still sitting on the city council he may have more to come.
Henry, tell us more
Huden’s vetting of the proposals presentation may appear weak, but the ERC got what it paid paid for, that being an analysis of which was the best offer, assuming the need for a downtown hotel was verified in an analytical study. Shockingly, a feasibility study was never done, although there have been comments from the city council that would lead one to conculde that a study had been commissioned.
Huden does appear to have some able people to do this sort of thing. Their main analyst has a degree from the top hotel hospitality management program in the country. At least it appears the city is going in the right direction. As long as the city does not rely blindly on the feasibility study and verifies that the assumptions contained in the report seem reasonable, at least there is some hope the hotel can be right sized. I wouldn’t tray our covention bureau comment with regard to size unless they show some numbers backing up the need for 400 rooms
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