Friday, January 21, 2000
Sabin Center expansion may shift east
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Expanding the downtown convention center east to the site of the Cincinnati Regal Hotel is one option being considered as city officials and business executives rethink the project and its $400 million estimate.
While plans show the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center bridging Interstate 75, officials say costs need to be reconsidered and designs might need to be redrawn.
“There are serious questions being raised about going across the expressway,” Mayor Charlie Luken said Thursday, “about whether it is economically feasible or even beneficial.”
Mr. Luken said he is putting together a panel of community advisers to rethink the expansion and look at lower-cost options that would keep the convention center competitive.
That would include looking at going east across Elm Street to the Regal Hotel site.
“That is certainly an option, one that merits serious evaluation along with many others,” said Councilman Todd Portune. “But we need to cap this budget at $300 million.”
Mr. Portune said $400 million could be too hard to raise, and it might not be needed to get a state-of-the-art facility.
Rather than try to raise money to meet a set of plans, the expansion needs to be planned on how much money is available, he said.
“The second you talk about scaling back, people think you're going to get a second-rate product. That's not what we want,” said Mr. Portune, chairman of council's Community Development Committee that oversees the city-owned convention center. “Nobody should sneeze at $300 million.”
But that is about $100 million less than City Manager John Shirey said it would cost to build west over the expressway.
“East, west, south. ... nothing has been discarded,” said John Barrett, Western-Southern Life Insurance Co. president and former chairman of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, which has made the convention center a priority. “We have a very, very clear wish to get it done.”
The biggest questions are how much it will cost and where it will be built. Mr. Barrett said he first heard about the Regal Hotel option on Thursday and it is “way too premature” to call it a plan.
“It has just been floated,” he said. “No one has given it one second of analysis. It is very, very speculative.”
Regal Hotel officials did not return phone calls Thursday.
“This has not been a concept that has been considered,” said Mike Wilson, president of the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It's only logical, if there are better, more effective options, we will consider them.”
He said there have been concerns about the cost of convention center expansion.
To help fund the expansion — which was recommended in a 1995 Price Waterhouse study — the city has committed $51 million in bonds. Another $18 million would come from a hotel room tax increase that would go into effect when the business community raises $20 million. Although that $20 million was expected in January, the deadline has been extended by the City Council.
“They need to design something for the money they have,” said Alex Warm, co-owner of Belvedere Corp., which owns the Carew Tower and helped develop Fountain Place. “This has been too bogged down in the political process.”
Citing problems with the $400 million estimate, Mr. Warm said his company has offered to do a development study of actual costs.
“Once people actually focus on this, they will come up with a prudent action plan for the right price,” he said.
Officials for years have discussed convention center expansion.
“I don't think anybody is sitting down and designing something for the money they have,” he said. “It shouldn't surprise anyone that this (project) hasn't been done.”
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