New hotel next to Sprint Center

Post by **dangerboy** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 11:23 am

The CVB seems to really be lacking lately. No wonder places like Clay County are starting to rebel against them. I think they got lazy with the Big 12 and others coming back every year, and weren't used hustling for businesess. But they just had some management shake-up, so maybe there will be some improvement soon.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 11:29 am

yeah the new president/whatever seems to be much more with it....the ballroom will help too.

kcteen · Post by **kcteen** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:02 pm

and the 50 cent portion of the rental car tax which will be used to promote the city will probably go to the cvb. that will help

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 5:15 pm

KCPowercat wrote:3 new hotels in a day of 50% occupancy for downtown hotels? I'm not sure I like this idea. I like one going close to the arena but one east of bartle confuses me....

I agree...why build another hotel right next to the President, Doubletree, Marriott, and former Holiday Inn? The next downtown hotel should be a major hotel like the Le Meridien or the Four Seasons right next to the Sprint Center.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 5:20 pm

I think downtown needs another 700+ rooms hotel like the Hyatt and Marriot.
Have a hotel replace the lot north of the arena and the former library's parking lot. And make it big enough to have at least 500-600 rooms.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 5:34 pm

Ok, tapered how? Like this:
http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=119561

Or this type of tapered:

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 7:42 pm

Just forget I said anything Devin. A new hotel or two will go up Downtown, but I think it's several years off.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:48 am

Where is Andi Udris bitching that there is no market for new hotels? LOL.

I find it hard to believe that the city is bargaining away the future Bartle Hall exhibit space at 14th and Baltimore for a new hotel. It would be much cheaper for the city to build over that section of I-670, than it would to build over the larger I-60/I-35 interchange west of Bartle. Even after the entertainment district and the arena are built, there will be two parcels of land remaining nearby for future hotel development (across Oak next to the Longlines Building, and the south end of the Law Building block). And there has been talk of putting another hotel on the SW corner of 12th and Broadway next to Kansas City Southern's headquarters (which I also believe to be just big talk).

Before there is talk of building any new hotels, I think first we should wait and see that the President is successful, and after that, then decide if Citi-Center is renovated into a hotel again, or loft housing. Then let's talk about Marriott finishing the renovation of the old Muehlebach's upper floors. Currently they sit empty and remain unused. It seems to me that if the old Muehlebach is to remain, those rooms will have to be used for as either hotel space, housing, or offices. Larry Bridges owns it, and we know how he likes to talk of tearing down buildings.

I love talk of new buildings just like anyone else, but I'd like to see the city reuse underutilized or vacant buildings first.

KCTigerFan · Post by **KCTigerFan** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 9:57 am

I recently was in Houston for the All-Star Game and stayed at the new Hilton Americas. It is a 24-story, 1,200 room hotel that is connected to the Toyota Center (arena) and the Brown Convention Center. It is also three blocks from Minute Maid Park. It is a well designed modern hotel with inviting glass lobby. I could just picture a hotel like it next to the Sprint Center. We don't have nearly the density of events to support this hotel and the other that we have downtown, but it is nice to dream!

By the way, Houston has invested a lot of money in their downtown in the last decade... sports venues, office towers, hotels, aquarium, entertainment district, light rail et cetera. They are just now getting any real number of lofts online. They also still have an immense amount of surface lots and architecture that is big and new, but not that pedestrian friendly. I think KC has a great deal of potential in our downtown because of the loft development, and the high quality inventory of old buildings that create some character.

KC0KEK · Post by **KC0KEK** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:45 am

KCPowercat wrote:3 new hotels in a day of 50% occupancy for downtown hotels? I'm not sure I like this idea. I like one going close to the arena but one east of bartle confuses me....

For comparison's sake, Atlanta -- the metro, not just downtown -- is running 63% this year: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/busines ... otels.html.

It would be interesting to have downtown- and metro-occupancy stats for other cities, particularly the ones we compete with.

LCDSI · Post by **LCDSI** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:25 pm

trailerkid wrote:
KCPowercat wrote:3 new hotels in a day of 50% occupancy for downtown hotels? I'm not sure I like this idea. I like one going close to the arena but one east of bartle confuses me....
I agree...why build another hotel right next to the President, Doubletree, Marriott, and former Holiday Inn? The next downtown hotel should be a major hotel like the Le Meridien or the Four Seasons right next to the Sprint Center.

i know this was an old posting but i do have to second the recommendation that kansas city needs a nice hotel like the four seasons or le meridien....it would be icing on the cake to position KC as a world class city

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:30 pm

LCDSI wrote:
trailerkid wrote:
KCPowercat wrote:3 new hotels in a day of 50% occupancy for downtown hotels? I'm not sure I like this idea. I like one going close to the arena but one east of bartle confuses me....
I agree...why build another hotel right next to the President, Doubletree, Marriott, and former Holiday Inn? The next downtown hotel should be a major hotel like the Le Meridien or the Four Seasons right next to the Sprint Center.
i know this was an old posting but i do have to second the recommendation that kansas city needs a nice hotel like the four seasons or le meridien....it would be icing on the cake to position KC as a world class city

Downtown needs a more exclusive hotel similar in scope to the Fairmont. For downtown to land a major upscale hotel sends a message that downtown is now a major center of commerce and tourism-- a sleeker, edgier northern bookend to the Plaza.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:44 am

Yes, a sophisticated hotel like the W Hotels. They've become very popular.

http://www.starwood.com/whotels/index.html

I'd also prefer that they build smaller hotels than some gargantuan one. I don't mind that they are chain hotels. I just don't want to see some big hotel that sits empty and becomes a white elephant. That way if vacancy rates go up during bad times, you don't have a hotel shut down and then you've got a huge building that isn't productive.

Smaller hotels are better in the sense that if one or more of them close, they can be converted to something else, and it's easier to find tenants. Big buildings are harder to fill in bad real estate markets.

I'd also rather hold off on any new hotels downtown until the vacancy rates go down significantly; and the President and Phillips are successful; and Marriott is doing well enough to renovate the upper floors of the old Muehlebach, so that they aren't sitting empty. I'd also like to see the old Citi-Center Hotel renovated and reopened, or at least converted into apartments. It's a cool old building, and I don't want to see it demolished.