Convention Complex still looking for funding despite $2.5 million grant

City Hall called it welcome news this week that the Hall-Perrine Foundation of Cedar Rapids awarded a $2.5-million grant to the city's $75.6-million Convention Complex project.

Even so, City Hall still has money to find for the project, not to mention for the related renovation of the now-city-owned Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel.

To date, the Convention Complex project has secured a $35-million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration; a $15-million state I-JOBS grant; and the Hall-Perrine award.

The city still needs to find $23.1 million for the project and, in that regard, is seeking a $5-million state Community Attraction and Tourism grant to help close the funding gap further. Mayor Ron Corbett has said the city will issue debt to pay some of the cost with the possibility of using some revenue from the city's hotel-motel tax to pay the debt off.

The city has used an insurance settlement from a fire at the city-owned Sinclair plant to buy the hotel for $3.2 million. The renovation, expected to cost $20 million to $25 million, may come from selling debt and paying it off from future hotel revenue, the mayor has said.

The hotel will close Feb. 11 and the city is slated to take ownership in March, after which renovation will take place. The hotel is slated to reopen in the fall of 2012.