Aldermen Wednesday were told they should not take lightly the advantage of being able to go to a convention downtown, then walk across the street to your hotel room. So a proposal to convert most of the Wyndham hotel to apartments failed again.
“I’m very concerned about the impact of any major reduction in the downtown hotel market and the impact on conventions,” said Ald. Jim Donelan, a No vote. “I just feel that if we are to lose a great number of hotel rooms. We are never going to get them back downtown.”
The first proposal had eighty rooms excluded for hotel use. The second one upped that number to 100.
Mayor Jim Langfelder said, “We can’t have this dire storm out there – saying, 100 rooms reduces this – I know what zero does! It’s devastating. Dev. Uh. Stating!”
The consequences could include the hotel becoming a Section Eight apartment tower – or simply standing vacant.
The Yes votes to rezone the building came from council members Shawn Gregory, Joe McMenamin, Lakeisha Purchase, and Roy Williams, with Langfelder adding a Yes vote.