Capital Improvement Board president John Whikehart says he’s baffled by comments the Bloomington mayor made about the convention center hotel project.
In a press release Wednesday, Mayor Kerry Thomson announced a new approach for the former Bunger and Robertson property north of the convention center.
It stated that the Capital Improvement Board (CIB) discontinued negotiations with Dora Hospitality on the hotel project.
But in the CIB meeting that afternoon, Dora Hospitality officials said they were moving forward with the hotel on parcels south of the convention center.
Whikehart said the CIB formally moved to extend negotiations with Dora.
“Not only is it erroneous to state we discontinued negotiations, we formally breathed new life into them,” he said.
Whikehart said he was also baffled at the mayor’s comments that the city and CIB concluded that the north location was not the right fit. He said the board and leadership have been clear that the former Bunger-Robertson property is the best site for a hotel.
“I am surprised by the content of the press release, and it could have been accurate with simple fact checking,” Whikehart said.
The city’s communications director Desiree DeMolina responded in a statement that the former property could have been a strong location for a hotel, but the challenge was the terms - not the concept.
“This reflects a site-specific outcome, not a change in the City’s support for a convention center host hotel,” DeMolina said.
Thomson plans to ask the redevelopment commission to activate the property through a transparent process so it can be put back into productive use.
Read more: College Ave. to close for two weeks for Convention Center expansion
The redevelopment commission wanted to be reimbursed the $7 million it paid for the Bunger-Robertson property. But a hotel developer needs incentives to build the kind of hotel tourism officials need to run a convention center.
The only other options are the south and west parcels.
CIB board member Jay Baer said those parcels have already been given to the CIB for purposes of the convention center or hotel.
“It’s just important for the public to know that we see those as a different deal, if you will, that the south and the west have already been committed to this project. The north was never fully committed.”
He said if the CIB decides to move forward with the south or west site, the land transfer would happen almost immediately.
President of Dora Hospitality Vince Dora said he doesn’t have a lot of specifics about the new hotel, but it will have 200 rooms, a full-service restaurant and bar facing College Ave., fitness center, and it will be five stories.
The hotel would take two years to build after the planning process is complete. It would be similar to the AC by Marriott under construction in Fishers.
Dora asked for the land to be donated with no public subsidies.
The land is currently overflow parking for the Courtyard Marriott and current convention center.
Whikehart said at some point the CIB will have to determine how many spaces are lost.
“I would posit that the city and the county are going to have to have discussions about how we deal with parking spaces as well related to this project.”
The CIB will hold a special meeting in two weeks to consider Dora’s hotel proposal.
