Staff Reports
Columbus is working with Bartholomew County in a land swap that will result in the city’s new hotel and conference center being placed on a county-owned block surrounded by Second, Franklin, Third and Lafayette streets.
That site has always been the preferred site for the development, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop said Friday.
With the exception of the Bartholomew County Court Services building on the northwest corner, the entire block currently serves as a parking lot.
With that block now chosen, the next step will be to find a location for a new court services building, the mayor said. The city has been in talks with property owner Tony Moravec about the former Eynon Law Offices and parking lot on the south side of First Street, across from the Bartholomew County Jail.
In addition, the city has also held several conversations with the Bartholomew County commissioners over the past year on the project, the mayor said.
As the deal currently stands, the city would pay the first $2 million to acquire the property off of First Street and build a new Court Services building, Lienhoop said.
Although exact construction costs won’t be known until architectural plans are approved, “we’re pretty confident it will be in the $3 million to $3.5 million range,” the mayor said.
Then, the city would swap it for the county-owned block where they want to construct the new hotel and conference center, Lienhoop said.
The current Court Services building, which served the community for several decades as the local Elks Club lodge, will eventually be torn down, the mayor said.
The next step is to retain an architect who can draw up some plans that the Bartholomew County commissioners will find acceptable, Lienhoop said.
That step will begin at 4 p.m. Monday in the council chambers at City Hall, when Lienhoop asks the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to approve an architecture and engineering agreement with Steve Risting to design the new Court Services Center.
Risting is one of two principal architects with the Indianapolis-based atelierRisting Architecture and Design studio.
The proposed hotel/conference center is a major component of the city’s 2018 Envision Columbus downtown strategic development plan. It has been described as a road map for the future of the commercial area of downtown Columbus and its neighboring residential areas and parks.
Last November, the Columbus Redevelopment Commission voted to approve a recommendation that the locally-based Sprague Hotel Developers develop the hotel/conference center. The mayor said they are currently in talks with both the Marriott and Hilton hotel chains.
The city has also engaged the services of Flaherty & Collins to work with Sprague on the development that will include:
- A branded 140+ guest room hotel
- 9,000 square foot ballroom and conference space
- A three-meal restaurant, roof-top dining and entertainment venue
- A parking garage
The mayor said the current COVID-19 crisis has banks leery of hotel development at this time, but he expects their reluctance won’t last any longer than a year.
Meanwhile, developers who plan to install mixed-use retail space and multi-family housing along South Second Street have indicated they are ready to move ahead.
