Bloomington RDC to be asked for $300K more in support of Dora deal on convention center host hotel

At its meeting on Monday (June 2), Bloomington's redevelopment commission (RDC) will be asked to authorize $300,000 more to support a potential deal with Dora Hospitality, to develop a host hotel for the convention center expansion.

The $300,000 comes on top of the $100,000 that the RDC has already approved for an analysis of the site where Dora is looking to build the hotel. The site is located across 3rd Street from the existing Bloomington Convention Center (formerly known as the Monroe Convention Center). The site, which is owned by the RDC, is commonly described as the former Bunger & Robertson site.

The RDC would retain ownership of the architectural designs, in the same way that the RDC is retaining ownership of the site review work. From the resolution to be considered by the RDC: "[O]wnership of the architectural products should remain with the RDC as no formal agreement has been made with Dora Hospitality or any other entity regarding the proposed host hotel project;"

But the $400,000 total that the RDC could be spending on the initial work could be analyzed as part of the "public incentives" that Dora mentioned in its September 2024 presentation to the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB). Some kind of public incentives would be required in order to make the project work, Dora representatives said at the time. That was also true for the other two hoteliers who gave presentations to the CIB in fall of last year.

In early October, the CIB settled on Dora Hospitality as its favored hotelier, but the negotiations on the land acquisition at the former Bunger & Robertson site have not been swift. The CIB wants the hotel to be an up-scale facility with at least 200 guest rooms and a range of amenities, like a restaurant, lounge, concierge or virtual concierge services, and an outdoor atmosphere like a rooftop courtyard. Included in the RFP was a meeting room of at least 10,000 square feet, along with a fitness center.

According to Monday's RDC resolution, the point of the architectural drawings is to "determine what portion of the RDC's 216 South College Avenue Real Estate is needed for the host hotel, to determine the proposed structure and plans, and obtain renderings of the overall look of the host hotel…"

The hotel planning is lagging significantly behind the convention center expansion project, which is set for a groundbreaking on Tuesday (June 3) at 3:30 p.m.—across College Avenue from the existing facility. The convention center expansion has a projected opening date of sometime in early 2027.

Other RDC business on the Monday meeting agenda includes an approval to negotiate the final terms of a five-year lease with Visit Bloomington for space on the ground floor of the 4th Street parking garage.

Since the construction of the 4th Street parking garage and the Trades District garage in 2021, the RDC has found it to be a challenge to rent out the ground floor commercial space in the facilities. Visit Bloomington is looking to relocate the visitor's center and staff offices, which are currently at 2855 N. Walnut Street, to a location closer to the convention center. The 4th Street parking garage would put Visit Bloomington less than a block away from the new convention center expansion.

Visit Bloomington executive director​ Mike McAfee has said that about 5,000 square feet would be needed, in order to house the center and offices in one place. The 2,244 square feet that are available in the Fourth Street Garage right now means that Visit Bloomington would be split into at least two locations.

It was former Bloomington mayor John Hamilton who initiated the purchase of the former Bunger & Robertson property with an eye towards contributing it as the location of the convention center expansion. The total cost, after the biggest part was purchased in 2019 for about $5 million, and a smaller chunk was bought in 2023 for about $2 million, came to about $7 million.

Current mayor Kerry Thomson is looking to recoup that $7 million—which was a big reason the CIB opted to expand the convention center eastward, using land that Monroe County government is donating, instead of northward.

Now it's the hotelier who is looking at a $7 million purchase price, which the RDC appears to be indirectly negotiating downward—with $400,000 in support through the site review and architectural drawings.