Crowne Plaza without heat on Tuesday

The Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel and the U.S. Cellular Center were without heat or hot water on Tuesday, due to a steam outage.

The two businesses are the only ones left on the steam system that formerly supplied heat to much of the downtown.

Alliant Energy and the hotel anticipated the steam line would be repaired by late last night.

“Normally, we'd have an alternative route available to feed them while a repair is needed, but the backup failed last month and the only way to fix the system is to shut down steam on the pipe,” Alliant spokesman Drzycimski said.

“This is, sadly, a perfect example of what the floodwaters did to the steam distribution system,” he said. “The cost to simply keep the system operating while customers move to other options has been extreme for both the company and our customers.”

The steam lines will be turned off completely on Dec. 1.

The Crowne Plaza representative said the hotel was still accepting guests but moving them to another hotel if they so desired.