Hotel proposal gets financial look from Council

The Park Central project would be located on McGovern where the Clark gas station currently exists. This hotel mixed use project would extend South to Laurel Ave around the church. The proposal includes a 135 room hotel, 500 seat banquet hall, restaurant for 150, 78 residences, 10,000 sq. ft. of commercial space on Central, and 32,000 sq. ft. of office space. Parking would accommodate some 380 spaces and would offer public parking for the uses within the development. The proposals height peaks out at between 6 stories and 8 stories (99 feet) which is well over the 4 story 45 foot height staff says is currently allowed.

On the Financial side the developers are asking for 18.5 million dollars of financial assistance from the city.

WHERE DO I START ?? Ya think TOO BIG? Ya think TOO MUCH $'s ? Well, as I expressed at the Council meeting, I think there is way too much here and am not interested in financing the project. While I won't mention names, one Councilman said we should not worry about the development aspects now, we should just run the numbers with staff and see if this project makes sense to us. Run the numbers on WHAT ?

I suggested that we thank them for the presentation and move on.... BUT 6 others on the City Council suggested that the staff look into this matter and report back to the City Council. The good news is the City Council did seem split on the development size. What valid numbers are there to look at when the project has over double the density and height than we currently allow. I don't want a hotel this bad! As a matter of fact, I don't want a hotel at all if it means changing our zoning laws and historic vision of our city.

Read more about this project by downloading September 30th City Council Packet . It is under the 4:30 meeting item V (scheduled business 1.). Please give me some feedback on this proposal. These downloads are about 10mb so it can take a while to get... So be patient.
STAY TUNED!!!