Due to scheduling issues, this interview was recorded Jan. 21 and aired Jan. 28.
In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson addresses this issue and more at City Hall. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: We know IU football's recent success benefits the city. I mean, you can't put a price tag on the free marketing or publicity, and we know it drives the economy, but is there any way to measure that?
Thomson: There is, and those numbers are still trying to be determined. What we know is that we nearly sold out of hotel rooms again on Monday night for a game that wasn't even in town. We know that applications have instantly escalated exponentially to Indiana University.
I heard from a real estate professional today that they did $5 million in prospective deals just yesterday. And so what this does is really highlight all of these assets that Bloomington has always had, but now we have a spotlight.
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Hren: Here's an email from Ryne, with the success of IU football and the likelihood of an expansion to Memorial Stadium, we will need more hotel rooms. What plans are there to hopefully encourage more development of hospitality related businesses in town?
Thomson: So we are seeing economic development impacts, especially hospitality up by the stadium, that is starting to really have some traction. We, of course, are focused as well on the convention center district and getting that convention center built - the hotel that goes with it.
Of course, the hotel at Trades District, which both of which come with various hospitality and I want to emphasize, Bloomington is one of the best places to eat out already. And so we're really thrilled for the success for our longer standing restaurants and hospitality services industry.
Hren: There was an ordinance or resolution last year about creating a Stadium District. It didn't get through all the hoops. There was also talk about a Riverfront District proposal that could come before City Council. Is that something that we're going to see in 2026?
Thomson: We're not focused as much on naming it and going through an official process as we were. What we're seeing is the economic developments actually happening without the naming. So we're really encouraging that.
And we'll continue to explore [Riverfront District], but it's not top on our agenda.
Hren: You mentioned the Trades District hotel. The renderings came out approved by the plan commission. It does take a couple lots in the Trades District. Does that use of land seem appropriate to you?
Thomson: Absolutely, in order to do what we're doing at Trades, which is nurturing startups, but also growing midsized companies and attracting a real, tangible bridge between other industry and the university.
So with Crane, with the BioPharm and biotech stuff that we have already going on in Bloomington, as well as the music and arts industry that's here, what Trades does is build a clear bridge. And frequently, we have folks coming from out of town who are either prospectively going to come and relocate businesses here, or they just need to host smaller meetings and host members of their team while they're meeting at Trades.
And so having that hotel, especially this particular hotel, is really meaningful to the development of Trades overall.
Hren: Jerry emailed us, he writes about Fourth Street and the art fair. He says, keep it on Fourth Street. It's not the Kirkwood Art Fair, it's the Fourth Street Fair. And says he doesn't understand the logic regarding the safety issue, because doesn't Kirkwood have as many alleys, rooftops, and windows. So all of this is centered around a safety issue of where festivals should be in Bloomington, right?
Thomson: Yes, and in fact, we are much better equipped to respond on Kirkwood, and we are really trying to get Kirkwood to be the destination for festivals. And so I understand the naming challenge with Fourth Street Art Festival being a long-standing name, and we really believe that it allows more space because we have the fire department, which limits the number of blocks that the art festival can take.
Kirkwood can be closed for a number of blocks more than what Fourth Street can and then it enables us to have a singular festival response plan for safety. It also has broader sidewalks and more space to move around Fourth Street Art Festival. So many years is just blazing hot and it gets very crowded. It's hard to respond. But primarily the drive is so that we can have one center for festival activity.
Hren: City Council is working on an ordinance to allow more affordable housing. There are a few thresholds we're talking about here for Payment in Lieu provisions, incentives, more density. I think it's going to get a third reading in February. Can you give us an update on that and what you're hoping to see?
Thomson: I want to make sure that whenever we're amending the Unified Development Ordinance, which is our zoning code, we are carefully looking at every element of that to make sure that we are not unintentionally prohibiting affordable housing.
It has lending implications, which may make it almost impossible to do local lending on home ownership opportunities. I am a mayor that believes that we should be able to broadly offer home ownership opportunities to a spectrum of our income levels and by deed restricting affordability, it means you really can't put a conventional mortgage on it. And so there are other mechanisms I think we need to be creative about that. It is our intention to when we create affordable housing, to keep it as affordable as possible, but also to not really hamstring the residents there so that they can never move or they can't get a mortgage on it.
