Hotel will be named, managed by Hilton

CEDAR RAPIDS - On Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously endorsed two agreements with the Hilton hotel chain that will put the DoubleTree by Hilton name on the city-owned downtown hotel and put Hilton in place to manage that facility, the arena attached to it and the convention center going up next door.

The agreement for the franchise name extends for 15 years, while the management agreement is for 10 years with an option for five more.

Few decisions made by the current council have generated more questions in the community than its move early this year to buy the downtown hotel, then called the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel, from its creditors for $3.2 million. The hotel, like the arena, is now closed for major renovation.

Mayor Ron Corbett last night said the agreements with Hilton will provide two essentials that had been lacking during much of the 30-plus-year history of the hotel - stability and quality. The hotel has had a variety of owners and names over the years, he said, and at each turn insufficient attention was paid to keeping the hotel up.

Council member Kris Gulick said he particularly liked that the Hilton agreements call for money to be set aside annually for maintenance and repair. The hotel is now a “community asset,” said Gulick, and the city doesn't want to find itself in this same situation 10 or 20 years from now - with a dilapidated hotel in need of major work.

John Frew, the city's construction manager for the hotel and Convention Complex projects, said the agreements with Hilton require the city to retain ownership of the hotel for five years, after which it can sell or lease the property. The city will review Hilton's budget for the hotel and Convention Complex annually, will get reports from Hilton monthly and will approve Hilton's choice for manager as well as a subcontractor to run the arena, if the company chooses to hire one, Frew said.

Frew said Hilton typically would charge an owner an annual franchise fee of about $500,000 to use the DoubleTree by Hilton name, but the fee is waived because the hotel chain will be managing the hotel and Convention Complex, he said.

The arena, which has been known as the U.S. Cellular Center, is slated to open in the fall of 2012 in time to play host to the state girls' volleyball tournament. The hotel and convention center will be ready in the spring of 2013, Frew said.