The civic center circle jerk continues
First, they start looking for developers to build a hotel that’s connected to the Peoria Civic Center. Then, they decide that, gee, it might be a good idea to do a study to see if this is a good idea first. So the study comes back with a reporting stating other hotels need to be renovated for the Peoria Civic Center to remain open:
HVS Convention, Sports and Entertainment Facilities Consulting, which was hired by the council to do an independent market analysis, concludes that “decisions with respect to the development of the Civic Center hotel should not be made until the future of the Holiday Inn is resolved.”
HVS’s report suggests the Holiday Inn is currently for sale, “which complicates potential outcomes and places more risk in the decision to develop the Civic Center hotel.”
Simply put, if the Holiday Inn doesn’t do “extensive, major renovations,” then the $55 million expansion and renovation of the Civic Center will struggle to book larger events.
Later, we have this paragraph:
Adds at-large City Councilman Chuck Grayeb, who also serves as liaison to the Civic Center: “Personally, I think it’s time to have a very interesting conversation with the people at the (Hotel) Pere Marquette and Holiday Inn and say, ‘OK, are you ready to upgrade?’
My two cents: Circle this day on your calender. This is the day they the debate began anew on whether to subsidize renovations at the Pere Marquette.
Remember back in the late 1970s and early ’80s when people naively thought that if they build a civic center in downtown Peoria it would help business in Peoria? I’d like to know when it became a generally accepted principal that the city must provide assistance to private businesses in order to guarantee the success of the Peoria Civic Center?
The Peoria Civic Center is a boondoggle. It’s time to pay off the debt and put the damn thing on a pay as you go basis, without any additional taxes from restaurants, hotel stays and movie tickets. The very last thing we need to be contemplating is providing any taxpayer assistance to any business that can’t do business on its own.
The City of Peoria is NOT a support system for the Civic Center. If the PCC can’t survive without a government subsidy, then Let. It. Die.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Boy do I agree on this one. If memory serves me well, the city gave a loan to the Pere for, among other things, a parking garage which was built next to the Pere. A few years back, the Pere didn’t pay up and we, the city, forgave the loan and gave the garage to them. Huh
Well argued. First the Civic Center was going to be a savior for downtown — eventually breaking even, then making a profit that would be a revenue source for the city. Now it’s the expectation that the city must do whatever it can to prop up the Civic Center by throwing yet more tax money at it besides the HRA taxes, and for what? What are we getting in return?
I think the subtitle of “Peoria Pundit” should be
“a suburb of the Peoria Chronicle.”
$20 and it is.
For every $20 you should be giving half to CJ.
[...] Yesterday, I wrote that while the Peoria Civic Center was created as a way to help bring business to Peoria hotels, the plan now seems to be to build hotels to keep the Peoria Civic Center from going out of business. Today’s article on Peoria hotel renovations makes me think that by building a new hotel, the Peoria Civic Center will probably put one or two out of business. [...]
[...] statement that the Holiday Inn project wasn’t a factor is complete B.S., of course. The city’s own consultant said the either the renovations or a new hotel were needed to prop up the civic center. I’m [...]