Friday, March 29, 2019

Jackson Issues RFP for Conv. Center Hotel

The City of Jackson issued the following video, statement, and request for proposals.




The City of Jackson and Jackson Redevelopment Authority are seeking proposals from qualified professional firms for redevelopment of their properties in Downtown Jackson with the following project: Redevelopment of the 7.75 acres in Downtown Jackson located across from the Jackson Convention Complex.

The focus of the Request for Proposal is to identify and select a Master Developer for the development of the land owned by the City of Jackson and Jackson Redevelopment Authority in Downtown Jackson. The City expects this development to include a mix of housing types, ground floor retail, offices, restaurants, entertainment venues, commercial spaces, convention hotels, and parking garages. The project must serve as an outstanding example of high-quality, sustainable design and construction that is shown to be financially feasible and responsive to the needs of the City of Jackson.

Eight (8) original sealed proposals must be submitted to and received by the City Clerk’s office located at 219 South President Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39201 by no later than 5:00 p.m. (central standard time) on May 9, 2019. Proposals received after this date and time will not be considered. Mailed proposals should be addressed to the Office of the City Clerk, Post Office Box 17, Jackson, Mississippi 39205-0017. Packets should be sealed and clearly marked “Vanessa Henderson COJ/JRA’s DOWNTOWN PROPERTIES RFP”



Kingfish note: Start paying attention at 3:00.  Same logic used to build Convention Center. Oh, and don't bother with the Jackson is lost or Jackson v. the burbs crap in the comments.  Focus on the subject of the post itself. 






58 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what message does this send to the new Westin Hotel?

Anonymous said...

All you have to do is look at what New Orleans is proposing for their convention center, almost a Billion dollars with an adjoining hotel. The backlash is, that it's not needed. Convention business is down all over the country. I had two trades shows last year in New Orleans and both said that they were not going to do shows in the future, period. Too much money, too little gained.
New Orleans is a know tourist destination, and their conventions have declined steadily ever since Katrina. But the fact remains that this is true all over the country. Our convention center has never even come close to breaking even and yet the powers that be think that someone is going to invest millions to bill a mega center across from our white elephant.

Anonymous said...

Mo money, Mo money.....

Anonymous said...

I can save them some money.

Hotel = RedTop Inn

Shopping = Walmart

Restaurants = Burger King, Krystal, and (questionable support from WH corporate) Waffle House

Oh and include a NASCAR track and a Pro baseball stadium.

Anonymous said...

"The Jackson hotel market without public participation can not support the development of a full-service hotel at this time. However, there is demand to justify a new convention headquarter hotel which would induce new demand to the market."

Total and complete bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Bend over Jackson taxpayers, they want to do you again.

Anonymous said...

Lost count how many times we were told that downtown residential had waiting lists a mile long. This study appears to indicate otherwise.

Anonymous said...

just connect this to Farish Street and it will be a real dandy of a development

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the Westin folks put a call into the mayor's office to ask about this.

Anonymous said...

I thought the Westin was going to be the panacea for the lodging issues in downtown.

So now we have the Westin, the HGI, and the Marriott, but we need another one to really get those big national conventions!

The NEXT GIG is gonna be DYNAMITE!

Anonymous said...

Ben Allen, president of Downtown Jackson Partners, said at the press conference that he has seen figures showing that, with all the residential development downtown in the form of loft apartments and condos, that in 10 years there could be as many as 25,000 people living downtown, tripling traffic on Pearl Street and Pascagoula Street.

-- Mississippi Business Journal
-- March 3, 2008

Anonymous said...

While I agree that downtown has a massive demand for high-end condos and a waiting list. I will say that the private sector needs to do the development. Not government. The westin is a huge hit. Let's not not city involved. I'm also opposed to city funded stadiums etc...

Anonymous said...

10:04
That they need to pony up to the Mayor's re-election committee.

Anonymous said...

Caught it - can’t support a hotel at this time and the “ however” - what kind of backwards logic is that? Jackson can not even guarantee a reliable water supply and damn sure can’t tell conventioneers they will be safe. I know for a fact that one of the largest companies in America visited to consider holding a shareholders meeting in Jackson. Their Hotel was without water and they were frightened by the gas stations on 55 having to have cop cars with their lights on at each one. Their meeting with city officials was less than impressive. In fact, they described it as mediocre.

Anonymous said...

Westin is actually doing well according to everybody who knows anything about it.

This new proposal all comes down to how much money a private developer is willing to put in. If a private entity wants to put up the majority of the money, great.

Anonymous said...

Unreported, at least here on JJ, is that Mayor Yammeralot wants to carve out of portion of the 1% infrastructure sales tax and go deep on $30 MILLION in long term bonds now specifically to pave roads.

Though it was only a few short years ago when his father said using bonds to pave roads was stupid since the debt would far outlive the shelf life of the paving.

Anonymous said...

Westin 68%
King Edward 70%
Marriot (oh 40+ years old) 44%

Where is the demand needed?

19k work downtown. 500 live downtown. Wow.

Anonymous said...

Slap some paint on the Sun and Sand and bring that jewel back.

Cynical Sam said...

Don't forget a gun store. The naive out-of-town/state visitors will soon realize that they need an equalizer or two.

Anonymous said...

Did everyone miss the 10MM the owners of the Westin asked the state put into a bond bill for a parking garage? The Hote is running under 50% oc rate.

Anonymous said...

"If you build it they will come" has no reliable track record in Jackson. Yet that is the only mindset a financially able investor can have to justify risking money in this market. There are no trends indicating a real demand for any of the phases of development dreamed of here. All you are likely to get at this time are a few broke ass hustlers who see a chance to move some public funds to their pockets and run for Atlanta when the project fizzles.

Anonymous said...

@Cynical Sam

There was a downtown gun store called Downrange Sporting Goods. They advertised on WYAB for a long time. I'm not 100% certain if they are still open.

Anonymous said...

The hotel equation is plain and simple. Open one, close one. Marriott, King Edward, and Westin take note.

Anonymous said...

What a con game this will be but maybe it is too last since all the real money has already been stolen. Poor people paying property taxes will have their last last dollar taken from them.

Anonymous said...

While I applaud the desire to improve the downtown area, I can't help but wonder where the business case is for this concept. Who specifically wants to hold conventions in Jackson, and is promising enough potential patronage to require more hotel rooms and eateries than we already have? "If you build it, they will come" typically only works in the movies.

Anonymous said...

If I'm not mistaken, this is round 2 of the RFP process. The City issued a RFP in 2018 for the 7.75 acres, but they didn't get any traction.

Anonymous said...

Yawn...................

Anonymous said...

Have I missed something? Did a hurricane hit Destin, FL? That's where everybody goes for a convention. Nobody holds a convention other than in Destin unless a casino is involved. Nobody.

Anonymous said...

Lots of comments from people who have no idea whether or not these hotels are profitable or not. Just type a comment and too many folks on here take it as gospel as long as it is anti-Jackson.

I don't see the need for another hotel, but I'm not going to come on here and act like a hotel expert on top of being a political pundit, forensic accountant, football expert and all the other things that people pose as on here. Most JJ posters are all of these things in their head.

Anonymous said...

1:30 The mayor and his minions are also none of those things, but they get to make decisions affecting the lives and pockets of others. That is at least worthy of comment, even if the comments aren't "professional".

Anonymous said...

The new Sheraton and convention center being built off Airport Road will be far more attractive than anything in downtown Jackson. There are reportedly other retail and restaurant businesses who will also build there. This is at the old Refuge Golf Club.

Anonymous said...

Motel 6 and Super 8 are the finalists.

Anonymous said...

1:30pm....I am in the hotel game, wisely not in Jackson, but I know the market well. The above naysayers are speaking the gospel. Start singing it loud like the others, and you will be on the right side of reality.

Anonymous said...

@205 - spot on. This is a regional meeting locale...not a national convention destination. Geez! Delusion of grandeur comes to mind. Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis and Biloxi are all more attractive in that order. Just accept what we are and focus on the needs, i.e. infrastructure, roads, public education, water/sewer billing, crime, and most of all conflict dispute resolution courses. Maybe we can hold a national convention on those subjects so attendees can see how not to be? I’m sure would be well attended.

Anonymous said...

This kind of live, work, play, eat, and shop, all within walking distance of your loft apt/condo worked in Austin, Texas. Jackson is not Austin.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, across the street, the old Walthall Hotel just sits empty and decaying. You'd think city hall would be more interested in sprucing that place up than they would adding more poop to the pile.

Anonymous said...

Obviously a hotel would make zero difference.

But it got me thinking about all of Jackson's totally unsolvable problems, and a new one occurred to me.

Jackson is so sprawling for a mid-size city that you REALLY have to mean to go downtown to get anywhere close to it.

It's not like there is a large, thriving suburb five minutes down the road, and they might pop into a downtown restaurant for dinner if it's safe. Instead you have miles and miles of endless, decaying Jackson suburbs in every direction before you cross the county/city line and hit any place where consumers with money might live.

Don't know why this just occurred to me. Add it to the pile of reasons Jackson is doomed, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Why are there so many hotels going up all over the metro? Clinton to Flowood, maybe even Brandon too. I can't believe there is all that demand.

Anonymous said...

@2:54 well the decaying Walthall you speak of is currently being redeveloped into over 100 apartments... try again

Anonymous said...

Bonds and large contracts have loads of graft and payoffs. This is all about making money.

Anonymous said...

"Meanwhile, across the street, the old Walthall Hotel just sits empty and decaying. You'd think city hall would be more interested in sprucing that place up than they would adding more poop to the pile."

In late 2017, JFP reported that the Walthall Hotel was being renovated and converted to apartments.

Anonymous said...

3:38 it’s 10 min from Renaissance to Downtown
That’s just a dumb statement
I work at the Iron Horse and I know we did almost 110k in sales in the last week. That’s in the worst part of Downtown too
Crime isn’t an issue but it’s gonna take more development to change that perception.

Anonymous said...

1:30pm What hotels do you own?

Anonymous said...

The Walthall is being renovated as we speak. Not much has been done the facade but if you look at the back of the building there is much being done.

Anonymous said...

The video makes a better argument for increasing residential development (and the other elements like infrastructure, safety and proximity to work/play spaces that would encourage it). It doesn't make the case for another hotel or convention center.

Anonymous said...

All the bullshit aside...will someone please enlighten us as to which groups, what kinds of people, what organizations, who, when where and why anybody would/will plan to have a convention in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. Seriously.

Just tell us who. I remember years ago Harvey and Frank promised that groups of black conventioneers would be coming to town. But, did they? Nope. Will throngs of Chicagoans or groups from Detroit be holding conventions here, just to be near the civil rights museum?

It's plumb damned dumb to be thinking about building jackson venues when there are zero groups even giving a remote thought to coming to this city.

Anonymous said...

The Sheraton - across from the Airport, on a golf course, in SAFE Flowood - is going to decimate the existing Jackson Convention Center activity! Bye bye JCC! Why in the world would a private developer go it alone or partner with the City of Jackson to build another hotel when there will be no reason for anyone to stay there?

PittPanther said...

The Walthall will be done right after the old Eastland courthouse. Remember all the announcements about converting the courthouse to apartments? Work started, then nothing for years. I'm sure the Walthall is going to have the same fate, if only because the building is crap ugly.

Anonymous said...

I agree with 11:22 about the sun & sand

Anonymous said...

" It's not like there is a large, thriving suburb five minutes down the road, and they might pop into a downtown restaurant for dinner if it's safe. Instead you have miles and miles of endless, decaying Jackson suburbs in every direction before you cross the county/city line and hit any place where consumers with money might live."
March 29, 2019 at 3:38 PM

So VERY true! Excellent observation...

Anonymous said...

1:07, it is.

Mukesh Kumar said they rejected the bids from the original RFP because the city didn’t like what was being proposed. This RFP is essentially the same as the original except the developer will have the opportunity to buy the actual property from JRA instead of the ol’ “lease it from us” mentality that pissed off other would-be developers for years. Glad the city actually isn’t afraid to sell its property for a chance at quality development this time around.

Anonymous said...

I am 52, lived in Jackson my whole life, and am it’s biggest cheerleader. The growth downtown is real, but slow. It must grow organically. It does not support any hotel that wouldn’t be built there without incentives. It might just happen: look at Birmingham and Memphis... their downtowns attract the youth. But let’s not oversell it.

Anonymous said...

In the words of one of my college professors, “You’re late!”

Anonymous said...

Yeah, only Madison is five minutes down the interstate.

Anonymous said...

5:40's post is so riddled with nonsense I don't know where to begin. So I won't.

Anonymous said...

Since James O. Eastland was arguably one of the most prolific racists of the past 100 years, how is it that his name remains on a building, albeit a federal one, in the middle of Jacktown?

You people are protesting a heritage flag that contains an image 160 years old while ignoring things right at the end of your noses. Can that building actually be seen from The Civil Rights Museum with a good periscope? Where's the protest?

Anonymous said...

11:27 can't wait to rename buildings and streets, take down/change the flag... with their long-term thoughts of renaming Mississippi and the big one - renaming the bad ol' U.S.

Anonymous said...

I don't know the particulars of this situation, but if I were really interested in those particulars, I'd look into EB-5 visas involved in any investing into hotels in downtown Jackson. Might want to look into the issues with EB-5s and hotels in general.



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