In a letter to City Council President Connie Robinson regarding the impending refusal of the Council to approve the $37.5 Million bond issue to provide an incentive to HCW of Branson, MO to build a convention hotel adjacent to the Centre, Commission Marsha Abell explicitly states that “no company public or private can continue to operate a facility at losses the size of the ones we have been experiencing at the Centre”.

Abell also commented on how the County is considering shuttering the Old Courthouse and The Coliseum due to operating losses and advised Robinson that the Centre may be mothballed without a convention hotel that is asserted to be able to brink the Centre’s operation into the black. She also expresses her displeasure with the City’s previous actions of demolishing the Executive Inn and the walkway in violation of a legally binding agreement between the City and County to keep the Executive Inn open.

Link to Abell’s Letter to President Robinson

Abell Hotel/Centre Memo 9.19.13

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.

IS IT TRUE September 19, 2013

IS IT TRUE people on both sides of the downtown convention hotel issue were a little shell shocked yesterday morning when Councilmen John Friend and Dan Adams issued statements that they had reached the end of their deliberations and have decided to vote NO on the downtown hotel project as it is currently written?…the supporting and opposing teams had no sooner taken a breath and gathered their composure until Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley delivered the kill shot to this deal by announcing that she would be the 5th NO vote on this deal?…Councilwoman Riley went further than just announcing her intention to vote NO, she issued an eleven point statement about the reasons she had reached her decision?…her statement was easy to understand, indicated an understanding of the project and how it fit in the scheme of downtown Evansville, and expressed a thorough understanding of the financial aspects of the project?…if the Evansville City Council were a portfolio of nine stocks the stock of Councilwoman Riley would have tripled yesterday due to her demonstrated competence and the courage it took to be the 5th vote in a highly controversial project?

IS IT TRUE the theme of yesterday’s thought process was that the efforts and money of the City of Evansville would be better spent in pursuit of the Indiana University Medical School at Evansville that is looking to expand its operation greatly?…it is expected that a site for the IU Med School will be announced in the Spring of 2015 that is only 18 months from now?…the new IU Medical Campus is by anyone’s measure a game changing development for Evansville and the entire region wherever it ends up but could really be a transformational development for downtown Evansville?…at least 5 members of the Evansville City Council believe the best efforts of the City of Evansville should be put forth during the next 18 months to make downtown Evansville an attractive location for the IU Medical School?…a hotel and a dozen or so extra conventions per year pale in contrast to a medical school and really do nothing to enhance the chances of downtown Evansville to rise to the top of the candidate locations?…if the truth is told, if downtown Evansville is successful in landing the IU Medical School there is a very real possibility that at least one hotel like the proposed Doubletree will follow it with minimal or no subsidy required?…to toss $25.4 Million (hotel and parking garage) at HCW with the IU Medical School decision a short 18 months away would be distracting and wasteful?…while today there are 5 members of the City Council who understand that and have the guts to vote that way, come Monday things may change?

IS IT TRUE the CCO expects that Council President Connie Robinson will make her decision known shortly leaving only Councilman Dan McGinn with a decision to make?…there are still only two members of the City Council who are adamantly YES votes and those are Councilman Weaver and Councilwoman Missy Mosby?…this takes us back to a day not so long ago when Councilman Weaver insulted Councilman Al Lindsey by telling him to “get on board or resign”?…those words are probably bringing an inner smile to Councilman Lindsey today?…this is no time to rub salt in wounds and it is also no time for the kind on denigrating name calling that is going on in the comment sections and on Facebook?…the wailing and gnashing of teeth needs to end on Monday night and both sides need to get on with the business of putting good policies in place so someday in the future a transformational project like the IU Medical School can be landed in downtown Evansville making ancillary items like hotels an afterthought that require no subsidies?

IS IT TRUE it all starts with a plan?…the most current version of a downtown master plan was commissioned in 2000, does not show an arena but does show a baseball stadium where The District is?…this plan was never followed and the reason is probably politics?…it is time as the CCO called for in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to create a new downtown master plan?…only through planning can the random acts of blindness cease and a deliberate pursuit of agreed upon goals be implemented?…the first step in landing any transformation project is in having an achievable master plan to address both the infrastructure and preferred use goals of the downtown?…someday downtown Evansville will have a convention hotel?…planning and focus will determine whether it will be funded by taxpayers or real investors?…we encourage the immediate call for a real planning and visioning process with politics and personal agendas left at the door?