City-County Council approves $625M for Signia hotel financing
The Indianapolis City-County Council approved $625 million in hotel revenue bonds for the Signia by Hilton convention center hotel at its meeting Monday night.
The resolution was approved 20-5 with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
Several Republicans expressed their opposition to the proposal. Council minority leader Brian Mowery said he has concerns about the city owning the Signia, as it would compete with other downtown hotels.
Read more: City announces financing plan for Signia by Hilton hotel at Pan Am Plaza
"To me, when we talk about the government owning a hotel, it's going to compete against the private industry," he said, "starts to sound a little socialist to me, which I don't agree with."
Councilor Jared Evans, a Democrat, railed against criticisms of the financing proposal, saying there was "such a large attempt to manipulate this project" as one that where the taxpayers would be on the line should revenue fall short of expectations. That, Evans said, will not happen.
"We're going to become one of the top-tier convention cities in the country and stay competitive, adding more people to our hotels, more people spending money on our restaurants, more support jobs for setting up those conventions and not just the hotel," he said. "This is a win for our city and I'm proud to support it."
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The city announced it would take over financing for the 40-story, approximately 800-room hotel in early May after Kite Realty Group Trust had difficulty securing funding in the private market. The city will finance the $510 million cost of building the hotel and build up a reserve fund. Officials previously said the fund will have enough in reserves to allow the hotel to operate without revenue for a year and a half if necessary.
The hotel project is in tandem with a $200 million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, funded by the city. The city will pay $54.3 million for the purchase of the land at Pan Am Plaza, which was previously approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission.
Indianapolis city officials, as well as the local tourism community, have touted the Pan Am Plaza hotel project as necessary to retaining current convention business as well as attracting future conventions to Indianapolis. But some criticize the move as Indianapolis taking on too much risk to compete with other cities.
The Metropolitan Development Commission also will consider the proposal.
Contact the reporter at 317-617-3402.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: City-County Council approves $625M for Signia hotel financing
