City of Bloomington officials are mulling over two new proposals for a downtown hotel, following last month's collapse of a plan to locate an upscale hotel and conference center near the coliseum. Both proposals come from developer Jeff Giebelhausen, who's been working with the city for more than a year to redevelop a dilapidated building and the Commerce Bank facility.
Mayor Tari Renner says both proposals fall short of the $53 million project the city vetted--then rejected--last month.
"One would be a budget hotel and the other would be a boutique hotel. Neither would be as ambitious as the Commonwealth Hotel project. These projects are much smaller somewhere around $15 million and $7 million," said Renner.
Renner said the budget hotel proposal would not need city approval and would be disastrous.
"Downtown is no place for a hotel with rooms rented by the hour," Renner said. He added the proposals stemmed from conversations city staff had with Giebelhausen this week and there are not yet any official documents to be reviewed.
Renner said the boutique hotel idea may have merit, but he added there are "more questions than answers" right now about each plan.
The proposal from Commonwealth Hotels of Covington, Kentucky was dropped July 14 after consultants S.B. Friedman recommended against moving forward with the partners involved in the proposal.
Editors Note: GLT expects to talk with Giebelhausen later today. Our reporting on this story is continuing and this post will be updated.