Bloomington Convention Center update: $660K bid OK’d for Seminary Pointe demolition

Construction of the Bloomington Convention Center expansion continues to move toward a Jan. 8, 2027, completion date. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 2 p.m.

At its Wednesday (Oct. 21) meeting, the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) voted unanimously to approve a $660,000 bid from Denney Excavating to demolish five structures on the Seminary Pointe properties south of the existing convention center. The board also authorized CIB president John Whikehart to sign the contract once the final terms are worked out.

The first actual use of the land after the buildings are demolished will be for temporary storage and staging area for construction materials and equipment. That’s activity that comes in connection with a host hotel that is supposed to be built on a parcel north of the buildings, but still south of the existing convention center.

In August, Whikehart said that the land that’s not used for the host hotel could be kept for future development by the CIB, or offered for sale through a separate public process. The proceeds would have to be used for the convention center or another tourism-related purpose. That’s because the real estate was purchased with proceeds from the countywide innkeeper’s tax, which state law says must be used for some tourism-related purpose.

Demolition is expected to begin in November and be completed by the end of December, subject to environmental remediation requirements.

Denney’s was the fourth-lowest of six bids received. The lowest bid, $478,800 from Green Demo, was rejected. That’s because Weddle Brothers, the project’s construction manager, determined that Green Demo omitted significant work, lacked on-site supervision and did not adequately account for local requirements. The next two bidders failed to submit required financial statements.

Responding to a question from CIB member Jay Baer, CIB controller Jeff Underwood said the demolition will be paid from the CIB’s food-and-beverage tax funding, through its soft-cost contingency, not from the bond proceeds financing the convention center construction.

The environmental testing done on demolition site shows relatively clean soil and groundwater, although a few samples showed elevated arsenic levels, according to Weddle Brothers project manager Andrew Scere. Tests for lead paint and asbestos identified possible remediation needs in the Seminary Pointe apartment building and the Friendly Beast building. Final laboratory results are expected this week, according to Scere.

The board also reviewed a preliminary site plan showing how the cleared land would be used during construction of a proposed 200-room convention center hotel. The plan includes space for construction equipment, cranes, material storage, offices, dumpsters and worker parking. After demolition, the land would initially be covered with topsoil and seeded.

The plan drew objections from two representatives of Bloomington Homes for All, which has over the last several months consistently advocated preserving Seminary Pointe’s 29 low-rent apartments as permanent affordable housing, and the commercial buildings as community spaces.

From the public mic on Wednesday, Homes for All advocate Amber Corr questioned why the entire site needed to be cleared when the proposed hotel would occupy only part of it. She called the construction staging plan an excuse to demolish affordable housing. She renewed the group’s call for a land swap involving the former Bunger & Robertson property, also known as College Square.

Bryce Greene followed Corr to the mic and likewise criticized the decision to demolish housing despite opposition from community members and objections raised even by elected officials. He said the decision amounted to permanently eliminating housing at rental rates that would be difficult to replace in Bloomington.

“On a human level, it’s just wrong, and it’s just bad city policy,” Greene said.

At the CIB’s Sept. 21 meeting, CIB president John Whikehart reported that all of the Seminary Square residential tenants had moved out before Aug. 31, and all four commercial tenants had found new locations.

The months-long saga of the attempted land swap is part of a years-long history of the current convention center expansion project. CIB selected Dora Hospitality in July to develop the host hotel on the southern parcels, effectively setting aside the land-swap proposal.

Also during public comment, Visit Bloomington executive director Mike McAfee thanked the board and Weddle Brothers for accelerating renovations to the existing convention center. The renovation completion date has been moved from June 28 to June 16. That will allow the center to accommodate a weeklong sporting event involving about 900 people beginning June 20. The event contract was signed Tuesday and is estimated to have a $500,000 local economic impact, according to McAfee.

McAfee said securing enough hotel rooms for the June 20 event had been difficult even with the adjusted construction schedule. He said that illustrates why the proposed host hotel is essential to realizing the convention center’s potential.

McAfee also recalled how the property with the buildings that are now proposed to be demolished were purchased with innkeeper’s tax revenue in 2012 with the intention of supporting a convention center and hotel.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Whikehart told The B Square that negotiations with Dora Hospitality on a definitive hotel development agreement are progressing. Dora was selected by the CIB as the hotelier in mid-July. He expects an agreement before the end of the calendar year, possibly in time for the CIB’s December meeting. The anticipated completion of the hotel is sometime around the first quarter of 2029, Whikehart said.