Wednesday, July 11, 2007

New Downtown Marriott

Things are not proceeding particularly well for the Harrison Square Project. I am certain the project will be done; however, some of the assumptions our City used will now have to be changed.

I still have not been allowed to see any of the financial information underlying the project in spite of filing 12 Information Requests.

Realize that when the project was first studied it was to be a 360 room hotel, then a 300 room hotel, and now it is a 250 room hotel. In my mind 250 rooms is plenty; however, they have used larger hotels for many of their projections and studies in the past. I have to wonder if they have updated their financial projections and studies to account for the smaller number of hotel rooms? My guess is that this smaller hotel will cause the % of the project paid for by the taxpayers to increase.

A Courtyard by Marriott has been selected. Realize that the City has continually stated that the hotel will almost assuredly be a higher end Marriott. In my mind a Courtyard by Marriott is a good fit for Fort Wayne. I once again have to wonder how a lower end hotel will effect their projections? A lower end hotel draws different clients who have different spending patterns. The earlier projections and studies assumed a higher end hotel. My guess is that this "lower end" hotel will cause the % of the project paid for by the taxpayers to increase.

At the City Council meeting where Harrison Square was approved the City Council was told that they had to vote on the issue "right away" because the City had to have a hotel deal in place by the end of May in order for the hotel to open on time... That deadline was missed in a big way. My guess is that the deadline has been missed since the City wanted a a different hotel then what the Developer had planned to build since day one.

Since my tax dollars are going to be used on this project I certainly hope that it succeeds.

The news about the project in the last couple of months has not been encouraging.

The more I have been able to learn about the project the more I have come to realize that its chances of success are almost nil...

Mike Sylvester

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry Mike. City Council and the Mayor all clearly know what they are doing with all of this. They are very organized. And they are in charge so they must be right. Us non officeholders just don't understand the complex thinking of people like Councilman Pape.

Bob G. said...

I have to admit it Mike...

The more you "guess"...the more facts WE find out.

Keep on keepin' on!

B.G.

Kody: Councilman PAPE aka the "Invisible Man"?
(love to have an real intellectual convo w/ him with him....maybe not... it'd be like shooting an unarmed man)
ROFLMAO!

B.G.

Jeff Pruitt said...

Pape's a good guy and willing to sit down and discuss the issues with anyone that asks...

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Pape and Talarico are both nice guys and they both spend a lot of time talking to their consituents. Both of them work hard and both take their jobs seriously. I have respect for both of them.

The problem is I just do not agree with them on the issues that are important to me.

For example both voted for more "nanny government" with the smoking ban and both voted the wrong way on Harrison Square...

Mike Sylvester

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Likewise, I enjoy my discussions with you and learn something most of the time.

Too bad you are on the wrong side of the smoking ban and Harrison Square.

Sam

Anonymous said...

Mike - Did you see the post on FWOb this morning? Sounds more and more like your concerns are correct. John B. Kalb

Dave MacDonald said...

I found some interesting data about the occupancy rates of waterpark hotels. Seems they experience rates 5%-30% higher than hotels without water features.

Details may be found here

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