City leaders say Crowne Plaza has drawn interest

Suitors are on the phone with City Hall, wanting to talk about getting their mitts on the soon-to-be-city-owned Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel, city leaders said this week.

People are calling, saying they want to renovate the hotel, put their name on it, operate it and/or own it, said Mayor Ron Corbett.

Corbett suggested that the long-struggling hotel is drawing interest now because the city last month agreed to buy it for $3.2 million from its creditors with a plan to spend $20 million to $25 million to renovate it.

The previous ownership arrangement, the mayor noted, was a complicated one in which a potential buyer had to take into account that the city owned the land under the hotel and parking ramp and revenue-producing Ballroom next to the hotel. Now the city will own it all, which the mayor said will simplify any sale discussions.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the city also is getting calls from developers who want to build other “hotels” in the downtown.

In a timeline updated this week, the city says it will take possession and close the hotel in March 2011 to prepare for the hotel's renovation. The current owner is expected to stop taking reservations in February.

The hotel renovation will proceed in tandem with the upgrade of the U.S. Cellular Center arena, to which it is attached, and the construction of the city's new convention center next door.

Demolition of buildings (except for The Roosevelt) in the block next to the hotel and demolition of The Ballroom over Third Street NE will begin in March. The hotel renovation will be complete in September 2012. The arena renovation is slated to begin in August 2011 and to be complete in November2012. Construction of the new convention center will run from August 2011 through February 2013.

The city is using an insurance settlement from a fire at the city-owned former Sinclair meatpacking plant to pay for the hotel purchase.

Corbett said this week that the city continues to look for a private partner to be part of the renovation project. But he said the city will sell bonds to pay for the renovation with the debt paid from revenue from the hotel if no partner is found.