Marriott is lone bidder for hotel downtown
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16704444.htm
From the article:
"The city asked developers to propose a hotel with at least 250 rooms, which [Greg] Leatherman said could not be built for less than $40 million."
"If for some reason the lone proposal doesn’t work, the city would try to work with other companies to secure a developer."
"City Council President Don Schmidt, R-2nd, said he was a little surprised only one company expressed interest in the project. Schmidt has been critical of the need for a new baseball stadium downtown. He said he supported bringing in a new hotel, but said that should be looked at separately from the new stadium."
Thursday, February 15, 2007
More Inn Info
Posted by scott spaulding at 2/15/2007 08:17:00 AM
Labels: Don Schmidt, Greg Leatherman, Harrison Square, New hotel, Sam Talarico
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5 comments:
What a crock! On Tuesday, February 13, 2007, the Journal Gazette article, to which you have kindly linked, notes the deadline for bids and states, quoting Greg Leatherman, " The hotel must be chain affiliated with at least 300 rooms..."
TWO DAYS later the same paper, quoting the same City official writes: "The City asked developers to propose a hotel with at least 250 rooms, which Leatherman said could not be built for less than 40 million."
This deal will be done, so that certain people can benefit financially from a taxpayer funded baseball stadium, even if we have to settle for a 20 room Motel 6 that rents by the hour. And don't look to the press to ask even the most obvious questions.
Can anybody find a copy of the actual RFP? Unlike prior efforts to get this hotel built (remember, the Grand Wayne was supposed to be the catalyst, and we condemned a liquor store to make way for it, years ago), the current one is not on the City website and doesn't seem to be available to the public.
And by the way, in case anyone is keeping score, the C.H. Johnson consultants study (the same group now getting thousands more to "evaluate" the Marriot proposal and, conveniently insulate the proposal from FOIA requests until this entire deal is massaged to a size convenient for a quick shove down our collective throats) recommended a 360 room hotel!
Although we NEVER should have been placed in the position of choosing which of two questionable projects to heavily subsidize, the hotel at least has some chance of bringing some OUTSIDE dollars into Fort Wayne through greater convention capacity. If we have to throw money out the window, at least throw it in the direction of a first rate hotel that MIGHT help attract some bucks to the city, rather than a duplicative baseball stadium that will NEVER be a reason for anyone outside of Allen County to visit Fort Wayne.
Whenever an open bid such as the hotel receives this kind of response it tells us that the free market doesn't see this as a viable investment.
If someone wants to build a hotel, then let them. The city isn't paying for the hotel. The developer is...As far as I'm concerned, the public doesn't get to vote on this one because it is not using their tax dollars.
anonymous 11:52
Dont be so sure about whether tax payers will pay for the hotel. We've already paid for their land through eminent domain and the proposal situation is unknown.
The company who submitted the bid wanted somewhere around 40 million in public subsidy from indianapolis for the same type of project.
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