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The Pan Am Plaza Square in Indianapolis, once celebrated but still underutilized, is the planned site of a $ 120 million public addition to the Indiana Convention Center, as well as two hotels in New York. Hilton brand privately funded, which together would have more than 1,400 rooms.
The Capital Improvement Council voted Friday to recommend building the expansion of the convention center and to work with Kite Realty Group Trust as the project's master developer.
The resolution gives CIB the power to work on a project agreement with Kite and a global funding model.
The Kite Plan was one of three projects submitted in March in response to CIB's Request for Proposals for another convention-style hotel with 800 to 1,000 rooms.
Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration approved the Kite Plan.
A key component of the project is a 38-story, 800-room hotel that would be developed by Kite and named Hilton in the northeast corner of the square on Illinois and Georgia Streets. It would be the second largest hotel in Indianapolis, behind the 1,005-room JW Marriott, which opened in 2011.
Kite also plans to build a second 600-room hotel, which would be located in the southeast corner of the block, in Illinois and Louisiana Streets. It would also carry a Hilton brand.
Neither Kite nor CIB would provide IBJ with cost estimates for the hotels. A hospitality industry consultant told IBJ earlier this year that a hotel of the scale sought by CIB could cost up to $ 350 million. . In comparison, the JW Marriott complex cost $ 450 million.
The 50,000 square foot, publicly funded meeting space – which would become the largest ballroom in the city – would fill the southwest quadrant of the square and be connected to both hotels and the convention center. 556,600 square feet by a walkway in height.
It would be financed by $ 120 million bonds that would be repaid with funding plus taxes. TIF districts record an increase in the established value, hence an increase in property tax revenue, to cover the cost of new infrastructure or other public expenditures.
Kite would also oversee the construction of the ballroom, but would not own it. RATIO Architects, based in Indianapolis, is the architect of the project.
Kite's proposal overrides two others. City and CIB officials had not previously indicated which developers responded to the RFP or what their projects would involve. However, it has been widely speculated that Kite would be in the running because of its proximity to the Convention Center.
"Best undeveloped site"
The Pan Am Plaza, which was built for the Pan American Games and hosted by the city in 1987, includes an office building located in the northwest corner of the block, which will remain. The rest of the place is largely used. It sits above a dilapidated underground garage and has housed a covered ice rink for years. It served as a venue for pre-game Colts and was the site of ESPN's Sports Enter program at the Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But finding a new permanent use on the square has puzzled municipal leaders for a while.
Extension options
The project aims to give city tourism managers the opportunity to bid for larger events and retain current customers.
GahlChris Gahl, vice president of communications for Visit Indy, said the city may lose some conventions, including the Performance Racing Industry Show, the FDIC convention, Gen Con, FFA and others, if the ability to inventory and ballroom did not increase.
David Hoppe, president of Gen Con, told IBJ in a statement that the convention had already been able to expand "to support a record number of guests" when opening the JW Marriott in 2011. It had about 37,000 guests at the time.
"Seven years later, Con's audience has almost doubled and we are confident that the recently announced additions to Indy will allow us to expand again, generating millions of dollars a year in Indianapolis' new economic development." "said Hoppe. IBJ.
Already, another dozen downtown hotel projects totaling 2,800 rooms are expected to be online over the next five years. However, tourism officials said they needed a convention hotel – a hotel with a large number of rooms connected to a large number of meeting spaces – to attract larger events.
Research conducted by HVS Global Hospitality Services at Visit Indy revealed that the downtown area could accommodate an 800-room hotel when it was accompanied by a 45,000 to 60,000-foot hotel ballroom or proximity.
"It's important to note that we did our homework," said Gahl.
For years, the occupancy of downtown hotels has exceeded 70%. The study found that the rate could drop immediately after the addition of a 1,000-room convention hotel, but would "rebound" to 70% by 2024.
Gahl added that adding the ballroom, which would be 40% larger than the gigantic 35,000 square foot Sagamore Ballroom located at the Indiana Convention Center, would allow Indianapolis to host simultaneously two conventions organized throughout the city.
The extra space could also change the events pursued by Visit Indy. At present, the city is not able to bid for 208 large-scale conventions because it does not have enough hotel rooms or ballrooms. The project would reduce this number.
Tags attached build business City Hotels Indianapolis journal Kite Meeting million PAN plaza Space spend
