Sept. 17–The Hyatt Place hotel will join the list of projects in Bowling Green’s Tax Increment Financing district.
The long-anticipated hotel will be built adjacent to Western Kentucky University’s Augenstein Alumni Center. Officials gathered at the property this afternoon to make the official announcement.
The $14.5 million project will be owned by a partnership, Dellisart Wellspring LLC. Delisart is the management company for the relatively new Staybridge Suites, which is owned by Wellspring, a family partnership headed by Ray Chen of California.
Doug Artuisio, founder of Georgia-based hotel management company Dellisart, said in an interview with the Daily News that the diversity of Bowling Green’s market helped them decide to invest in another property here.
“It’s been an interesting journey, but one of amazing cooperation,” Artusio said.
WKU and the TIF in late 2011 issued a request for proposals to own and operate a hotel in the block known as Alumni Square.
“In that initial RFP, WKU offered to utilize the hotel for university business, and we are looking forward to that,” he said.
But that’s not the only reason the project is desirable.
“Downtown is its own vital area … with (Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center), the Bowling Green Ballpark and other activities, we see this as its own … destination,” Artusio said.
Artusio hopes to see construction begin in early fall after meeting all of the necessary requirements of being in the TIF.
“I think this is a forward design,” Artusio said. “We will work with the TIF design committee … but there are certain hallmarks of the Hyatt prototype that will have to stay. We think this will fit in nicely with the area.”
The hotel will be four stories with 108 rooms and will include some meeting space, an indoor pool, a fitness center and a restaurant area for sandwiches and other light meals. Free breakfast will be offered to customers. Unlike the Staybridge, which is an extended-stay facility, this hotel will be a traditional format. The Hyatt will face Center Street.
Artusio said there could be some overlapping of the two properties, but he expects that as the Carroll Knicely Conference Center continues to develop as a conference and events space, there will be more than enough business for both properties.
“We are not looking at this for today, but the future,” he said.
Construction will take anywhere from 10 to 12 months. Artusio said it’s highly unlikely it could be completed in time for the Labor Day 2014 celebration of the National Corvette Museum, when 10,000 Corvettes are expected to be in town.
“I would like to … but I just don’t think that’s possible,” he said.
Artusio said that the partnership will invest considerable equity in the project, which will be financed through U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank Regional President Craig Browning said the bank will purchase $14.5 million of industrial revenue bonds to be issued by Warren County and in turn will do a traditional financing arrangement with the partnership. The industrial revenue bond aspect will make the project available for certain tax abatements over an extended period, Browning said.
Artusio said he appreciated the work U.S. Bank has put into the project.
Browning said he is grateful to the corporation that allows such decisions to be made with local autonomy.
“I’m very pleased at U.S. Bank’s involvement in the downtown revitalization effort,” Browning said.
The bank provided interim financing for the overhaul of the old Bowling Green Junior High School property, now a residential facility called The Columns, and helped obtain New Markets Tax Credits (a financing vehicle) to help kickstart the construction of Bowling Green Ballpark.
The former school property had become blighted after the previous owner left fallow a construction project to rehab the school buildings. Now the buildings are at capacity, providing homes to WKU students.
Doug Gorman, chairman of the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority, was excited that the hotel plan has become reality.
“The exciting thing is this has been talked about five or six years,” Gorman said. “It changes the landscape. … I’m extremely excited about the opportunity it presents.”
— Look for more in Wednesday’s edition of the Daily News and at bgdailynews.com.
— Robyn L. Minor covers business, environment, transportation and other issues. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/bowserminor or visit bgdailynews.com.
