Game-Changer or Corbett's Folly?

Mayor Ron Corbett says buying the Crowne Plaza is simply part of our kitchen remodeling project.

I agree. Our contractor was just about to put in our new cabinets and a charming breakfast nook, then he takes us aside to tell us he's invited hundreds of out-of-town houseguests.

They're hungry. They need ice. And they forgot their toothbrushes.

These city folks are full of surprises. If only we'd known sooner. We should have known sooner. Arguments made Thursday by the mayor and others for why we need to buy the joint could have been explained to us long ago. The movers and shakers certainly knew.

“I was lukewarm to it. Chilly to it,” Corbett said. But in the last six weeks, since the city got its $35 million federal grant for the U.S. Cellular Center update and new Events Center, he changed his mind. “For me, the awareness level ... it's made it more intense.”

Would citizens have embraced this project from the start had they known a city-owned hotel was part of the plan? We'll never know. And now we're at a point of no return.

At this point, we have a choice of two possible debacles. In one, the city doesn't buy the hotel, sinks a ton of money into the Events Center and risks its success by leaving the hotel in sorry shape. Maybe someone swoops in, buys it, and tears it up just as the center opens. Oops.

Debacle two is the city buys the hotel and remodels it. But business slump and nobody wants it. Taxpayers are holding the bag.

Grudgingly, I agree that debacle one is the clearest threat now. If you're going to spend $67 million on the Events Center and U.S. Cell Center upgrade, you'd better make sure the hotel can hold up its end of the business. Corbett is right.

He points to the Marriott owned by Coralville. My mind drifts down Honey Creek, the state-owned resort that was supposed to make enough bucks to operate and pay off its bonds. Instead, a river of red ink runs through it.

Listening to Patrick DePalma, chairman of the Five Seasons Facilities Commission, talk about what the hotel needs is sobering. The lobby, common areas, pool and exercise room need work. And the plumbing. And the shell of the building. Did I mention flat screen TVs? Sounds more like Brian De Palma's “Mission: Impossible.”

Corbett and his backers are betting this project will be a game-changer downtown. Stakes are high. It's the defining wager of his administration. If it succeeds, super. If it fails, it's Corbett's Folly.

Between now and then, the kitchen will get plenty hot.

Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@gazcomm.com