Firms teaming up to run revamped Cedar Rapids convention center, hotel

A team of Kinseth Hospitalities Cos. of North Liberty and VenuWorks of Ames will manage the city's new convention center, upgraded U.S. Cellular Center arena and renovated Five Seasons hotel if the City Council approves a decision by a City Hall evaluation committee.

The council will vote on the selection at its meeting this evening.

The proposed council resolution calls for the city to immediately begin a negotiation with two hotel brands identified during the evaluation committee's work. The hotel had been a Crowne Plaza hotel until it closed for renovation in February.

John Frew, the city's consulting project manager for the convention, arena and hotel projects, on Monday said the city actually will negotiate with three brands - Sheraton, DoubleTree by Hilton and Radisson - and narrow three to two. He said Sheraton has displayed the most interest, followed by DoubleTree and then Radisson.

Smith Travel Research, a national hotel-ranking service, classifies the Sheraton brand as “upper upscale,” or one step above DoubleTree, Radisson and Crowne Plaza, which the service classifies as “upscale,” Frew said.

He said Holiday Inn also has expressed interest in the Five Seasons Hotel, but it's brand, he noted, is lower on the rating scale than the three others.

The Sheraton name is well-known in Cedar Rapids, as the Clarion Hotel on 33rd Avenue SW operated as a Sheraton Four Points Hotel from its opening in the late 1970s until 2002.

VenuWorks is also well-known in Cedar Rapids. The Ames-based management firm currently manages three city entertainment venues, the U.S. Cellular Center arena, the Paramount Theatre and the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

According to a city-staff memorandum to the City Council, VenuWorks will continue to operate the theater, which has been closed since the flood pending renovation, and the ice arena under its existing contract with the city.

VenuWorks' existing contract to manage the U.S. Cellular Center arena will end and be replaced by a new contract with Kinseth for the arena, convention center and hotel, according to the city memo.

Kinseth is headed up by Bruce Kinseth, a NCAA champion wrestler for the University of Iowa in 1979.

The hospitality firm operates more than 45 hotels and 10 chain-affiliated restaurants in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Those properties include Country Inn & Suites in Cedar Rapids and Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center and Hampton Inn in Coralville.

Among the other hotel brands under its management are Courtyard by Marriott, Clarion Inn, Best Western, Hilton Garden Inn, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites, Sleep Inn and Suites and Four Points by Sheraton.

City Hall's evaluation committee consisted of City Council members Monica Vernon and Chuck Swore, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, Drew Westberg, special assistant to the city manager, Casey Drew, city finance director, John Frew, consulting project manager for the city's Convention Complex project and hotel renovation, and Doug Neumann, president/CEO of the Cedar Rapids Downtown District.

The committee also interviewed a second applicant, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, White Plains, N.Y., which calls itself “one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies.” It manages or oversees the franchises of 965 hotels and owns 62 hotels and 14 resorts around the world, according to its Web site.

Until recently, the downtown Five Seasons Hotel had been the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel. The city closed on the hotel purchase from its creditors in March at a price of $3.2 million, the Crowne Plaza flag came off the building and the hotel is now closed for renovation. It is slated to reopen in the fall of 2012. The U.S. Cellular Center arena, which is connected to the hotel, will close in late summer for renovation and will reopen with the hotel in the fall of 2012. The new convention center next door is expected to open in early 2013.