The IBJ
An expansion of the Indiana Convention Center might not include a massive ballroom that had been billed as a key part of the project.
Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association President Bob Bedell acknowledged in an interview with IBJ on Friday that the ballroom may be stripped from the plans to help control the project's escalating cost. About $275 million has been budgeted for the project.
Bedell said the ballroom space lost in the convention center expansion could be replaced by adding it to a new hotel.
The ballroom issue was revealed this afternoon during a presentation to a city-appointed committee of proposals for a downtown convention hotel. Bedell is a committee member.
The committee is charged with choosing from three proposals that would add at least 800 new hotel rooms to coincide with the opening of the convention center expansion in 2010. The winner would receive potentially lucrative incentives from the city.
Indianapolis-based Browning Investments Inc. and Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp. made a dramatic case for their skyline-altering 44-story InterContinental Hotel tower. It would include 1,016 rooms, 72 condos, two restaurants, a health club, a spa and a 36,000-square-foot ballroom.
Another partnership, between Merrillville-based White Lodging Services Corp. and Indianapolis-based REI Real Estate Services, proposed a campus of hotels near Victory Field that would include an 800-room JW Marriott convention hotel. Their plans also include a Courtyard by Marriott hotel, Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites and a Renaissance Hotel with 24 luxury condos overlooking White River State Park.
New details also emerged Friday about the third proposal, an expansion of the downtown Westin.
White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is proposing adding 650 to 800 rooms within two new wings running north and south of the existing hotel, creating a "U" shape. The company did not provide a rendering.
Bedell, a member of the committee, described the Westin plan as a "fall-back" proposal: "They know they're presenting an option that's not exactly what we're asking for."
The Westin proposal does not include additional meeting space.