CIB narrows Bloomington convention center host hotel field to Dora, MHG
Bloomington’s CIB advanced host hotel proposals from Dora Hospitality and MHG Hotels for July 8 interviews, keeping a July 15 developer vote on track for Seminary Pointe. The move further dims hopes for a College Square land swap that could preserve Seminary Pointe for affordable housing and retail.
Left: Signs were posted on June 10, giving notice of the pending planned demolition of buildings on the Seminary Pointe block. Right: Land shaded with purple has been transferred by either the city or the county government to the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) to support the convention center expansion project. The gray area bordered in orange is the site of the convention center expansion. It’s the dark purple area that the CIB has targeted for a possible land swap for the blue square to the north, which is the College Square property, formerly owned by Bunger & Robertson. The dark yellow areas are historic districts. The 424 S. College and 222 W 2nd St addresses, indicated with placemarks inside the dark purple area, are listed as "contributing" in the city’s 2018 survey. Map by the B Square [dynamic map]
The field for the Bloomington convention center host hotelier was narrowed Wednesday (July 1) to two development teams. Monroe County’s capital improvement board (CIB) is advancing just two of five proposals, from Dora Hospitality and MHG Hotels, for interviews next week.
The proposals came in response to an RFP issued by the CIB in mid-April.
The selection of two interviewees, which came at a special meeting of the CIB on Wednesday, appears to put the CIB on track by mid-July to choose a hotel developer for the Seminary Pointe block south of the existing convention center.
That further dims hopes that a land swap could be worked out to use the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s (RDC’s) College Square block for the host hotel and preserve Seminary Pointe for use as extremely affordable housing and commercial space, which is its current use. College Square (aka the former Bunger & Robertson lot) is the southwest corner of College Avenue and 2nd Street.
The two proposals selected for interviews are from Dora Hospitality, submitted by Vince Dora and Russ Louderback, and MHG Hotels, submitted by Neal and Sanjay Patel. According to the CIB, those were the only two submissions that met the RFP submission requirements.
Both Dora Hospitality and MHG Hotels submitted proposals in response to the CIB’s original request for proposals two years ago. On Wednesday, CIB board member Jay Baer quipped: “The Groundhog Day nature of this from two and a half years ago was throwing me off … I’ve seen this movie!”
The first time around it was Dora that was selected by the CIB as its preferred hotelier. Negotiations between Dora and the Bloomington RDC over the use of the College Square lot finally foundered in early 2026 after lasting for more than a year.
At total of five responses were received in response to this year’s RFP. The other three came from Concord Hotels, Garfield, and The Phoenix Downtown LLC. Concord was excluded because it did not provide at least 200 rooms and did not propose on the CIB land offered in the RFP. Garfield was excluded because it did not provide a site selection, development plan or financial plan. The Phoenix Downtown LLC was excluded because it submitted a workforce housing proposal, not a host hotel proposal. [slide deck from CIB meeting]
The next step is additional analysis from July 2 through July 13, with hotelier interviews set for July 8. A hotel evaluation group is scheduled to meet July 14, followed by CIB final consideration on July 15. The evaluation group includes: CIB members Jay Baer, Doug Bruce and John Whikehart; Mike Campbell of the Convention and Visitors Commission; and Mike McAfee of Visit Bloomington. Supporting the group are: CIB attorney Jim Whitlatch; CIB controller Jeff Underwood; Jason Larrison and Mary Krupinski of JS Held, which is the CIB owner’s representative, and subcontractor to JS Held, Adam Gelter, a hotel expert.
At Wednesday’s special meeting, the CIB also received an update on site work at Seminary Pointe needed to support hotel development. A Phase I environmental report by VET Environmental Engineering has been received and provided to all interested hotel vendors, but a Phase II analysis is still required. One appraisal, by Integra, has been received, with a second expected shortly.
Bloomington’s historic preservation commission voted in the last week of June to allow demolition to proceed for two buildings designated as “contributing” structures. The CIB plans to prepare demolition bids for all buildings on the block, with demolition possible as early as Oct. 1.
The lease schedule also points toward clearing the Seminary Pointe block this fall. All residential tenant leases, along with three of the four commercial leases end Aug. 31. The three commercial leases winding down at the end of August are for My Sister’s Closet, Friendly Beast and Blue Tip. The remaining commercial lease, for Jeff’s Warehouse, has been renegotiated to end no later than Sept. 30.
The CIB’s movement on Wednesday towards selecting a hotel developer for Seminary Pointe follows months of tension over whether the host hotel could instead be built on the College Square block, which is owned by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission. The CIB is supportive of a land swap, and essentially considers the ball to be in the RDC’s court.
A June 23 email from CIB president John Whikehart to county board of commissioners president Julie Thomas, county council president Jennifer Crossley, Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson and city council president Isak Asare laid out the CIB’s view of the situation.
Whikehart said in the email that the CIB did not want to be in conflict with local elected officials or engage in a media back-and-forth. But he said that the interlocal agreement for the convention center project requires good-faith review and negotiation over property transfers that the CIB requested for the project.
Whikehart pointed to wording in the February 2024 interlocal agreement saying the CIB could request transfers of property assets that are needed, in its judgment, to complete the project, and that the parties would review and negotiate those requests in good faith. He also cited a May 6, 2024 letter from city corporation counsel Margie Rice, which said the CIB should expect negotiations if the RDC-owned parcels north of the convention center were determined to be integral to the project.
The CIB formally asked the RDC in mid-April this year to pause its public offering of the College Square site for 30 days so a land exchange could be reviewed and negotiated. The RDC declined and proceeded with a public offering of the land. In a May 4 memorandum the RDC told the CIB it was welcome to respond to the public offering “on the same terms as any other party.”
Whikehart said in his June 23 email that the RDC’s response did not meet the spirit or intent of the interlocal agreement. He wrote that the CIB still would accept an offer to meet before July 15, after appraisals and environmental work on the Seminary Pointe site are available, to try to negotiate a land exchange before either public process concludes.
The CIB’s hotelier selection process is now scheduled to reach a decision on July 15. Responses to the RDC’s separate College Square offering are not due until July 20. Whikehart’s email framed the timing as urgent: A host hotel will take roughly two and a half years from award to ribbon-cutting, and the convention center expansion will not reach its full potential until a host hotel is open with room guarantees for conventions.
Absent negotiations with the RDC, Whikehart warned in his June 23 email, the “better hotel opportunity” to the north and the possibility of using the south property for affordable housing could be lost.
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