The City of Bloomington is refusing to recognize the Graduate Hotel building on Kirkwood Avenue as part of a local historic district, which means it won’t be able to sell alcohol.
The Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission voted Thursday, seven to zero, against the request by the hotel’s parent company for historic protection status.
Read more: Graduate Bloomington requests historic protections
Ahead of the vote, commissioner Reynard Cross called the debate a waste of time.
"The idea that the Graduate Hotel is a historic building, by any definition of the word 'historic,' is just ludicrous," Cross said. "It’s an absolute waste of our time."
The First United Methodist Church is less than 20 feet from the hotel, and Indiana law doesn’t allow establishments within 200 feet of a church or school to obtain liquor licenses.
There are certain exceptions — including for historic status.
Pablo David with owner AJ Capital Partners told the commission that the inability to serve alcohol makes it hard to book space for weddings and other events.
He estimates annual losses to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The hotel’s proposal would have designated Kirkwood Avenue as a historic district rather than the building itself, which is only about six years old.
A report authored by the commission’s historic preservation program manager determined the proposal did not meet eligibility requirements.
