KOKOMO – Specific details emerged this week about a proposed hotel and conference center project in downtown Kokomo, including information about the potential development’s planned location, size and amenities.
While the project has yet to be finalized or officially announced by local officials, detailed site plans and public indications, including a confirmed relocation of the city’s downtown trolley stop, show the considerable efforts made to bring the long-discussed development to life.
In fact, a specific “proposed hotel/conference center” project, shown in the block between Main and Union streets north of Wildcat Creek, was addressed Tuesday by Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance President and CEO Charlie Sparks.
Sparks, who emphasized that the project is “not a sealed deal” during a population-growth summit at Indiana University Kokomo, said GKEDA is working on the project with the Howard County government, the city of Kokomo and the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“I think we’re getting close, hopefully, to being able to announce this soon,” said Sparks, noting that the project has a “very good developer, very solid.” He did not name the developer or specify a hotel flag.
Sparks explained that preliminary plans show the hotel on the east side of the property, along Union Street, with the conference center to the west, along Main Street. The north end of the property is bordered by Superior Street.
“We’re real excited about this,” he said.
PowerPoint slides presented by Sparks at the Tuesday meeting – attended by city and county officials, local business leaders and nonprofit groups – laid out specifications about the proposed project.
On Thursday, Sparks called the information presented on the slides “a conceptual depiction of what we’re pursuing.”
“If the project goes forward, I don’t expect it to deviate much from what has previously been discussed,” he added later about the accuracy of the proposed plans. He also called the area currently housing the downtown CityLine Trolley stop “the preferred location for the project.”
One slide explains that 125 guestrooms are proposed within the hotel. The conference center, according to the slide, would encompass 12,000 square feet.
The slide also notes the proposed inclusion of an “American Grill” restaurant; a pavilion lounge/bar; a business center; an exercise room; and an indoor pool. Another slide indicates that the hotel would include five levels, with an optional expansion of 40 additional rooms.
The hotel restaurant and bar is shown at the corner of Union and Superior streets.
The conference center, according to the proposed project’s site plan, would include a 500-seat ballroom, with a bridge, or second, level, and an optional 7,600-square-foot expansion.
Notably, 88 spaces of on-site parking would be provided, according to Sparks’ presentation.
About the proposed project’s timeline, Sparks noted that all involved parties, including the developer, are working on a letter of intent, “which will better define the actual project and how the project will be funded.”
“Once that’s agreed to, we’ll probably be in a position to make an announcement at that point, and then we’ll be working toward actually executing what’s known as a developer agreement, which will be even more specific than a letter of intent,” he added.
Sparks said he hopes the letter of intent will be executed in the next two to three weeks.
Trolley stop move
Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight confirmed this week that the downtown CityLine Trolley stop will be relocated in coming months to a new spot near the corner of Sycamore and Market streets, next to City Hall.
The CityLine Trolley move, as part of the city’s Transit Center Rehabilitation Project, opens up space in the block between Main and Union streets north of the Wildcat Creek for “future redevelopment,” noted Goodnight.
The space has, as acknowledged by Sparks, long been highlighted as an option for a downtown hotel and conference center, often referred to as a convention center.
Currently located next to the Kokomo Howard County Governmental Coordinating Council at 209 S. Union St., the trolley stop could be open in its new location around December or January, said Goodnight.
He noted that city officials do not expect a disruption in trolley service to occur downtown.
In conjunction, the KHCGCC will move its offices to the former Kokomo Traffic Department building at 219 E. Sycamore St. The property will continue to house aspects of the Kokomo Police Department.
KHCGCC Executive Director Tammy Corn called the spot a “perfect location” and noted that it won’t change bus routes, stops or timing.
To prepare for the move, and to consolidate existing city resources, the traffic department is already mostly relocated to the Kokomo Street Department facility at 720 E. Boulevard St., noted Goodnight.
“This is just a piece of the consolidation of some of our departments,” he said.
Goodnight also expressed his desire to redevelop the current CityLine lot, calling it an “underutilized parcel.”
He explained that the building, currently housing the KHCGCC and an Indiana Department of Revenue branch, which is also in the process of moving to a new, as-of-yet unannounced downtown location, will eventually be torn down.
In March 2014, the Tribune reported that a Carmel-based consultant, hired by the Kokomo visitors bureau to research the possibility of adding a hotel/convention center facility to downtown, pointed to the same block in his vision of a 150-room hotel and restaurant combined with around 13,000 feet of meeting and ballroom space.
At the time, the consultant, Rob Hunden, confessed to being somewhat skeptical about the downtown area until he learned more about the momentum generated by new downtown establishments and the YMCA and city-backed parking garage/apartment project.
On July 12, the Kokomo Board of Public Works approved plans and specifications for the Transit Center Rehabilitation Project. Bids have not yet been received for the project, and it was not clear until Goodnight’s comments whether the project would include a relocation of the trolley stop and KHCGCC offices.
Goodnight first acknowledged the trolley stop and KHCGCC move in an Indiana Public Media interview, posted Wednesday.
“And that’s the last building that was on that pretty massive lot,” he said in the interview. “So now that will eliminate any usage there; we’ll be able to clear it for future development.”