Hammons announces new downtown hotel
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BY DICK PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star
For starters, hotel magnate John Q. Hammons announced a proposal Thursday to spend $16 million building a 150-room Residence Inn by Marriott on the east side of downtown Lincoln.
But he'll start right away on spending $3 million renovating his Embassy Suites at 10th and P streets.
Then Hammons challenged the city to pursue its its tentative plan to build a public arena in or around the Haymarket, the favored site in a consultant's study released Wednesday.
"I hope that'll come to fruition," Hammons said. "If you get a big arena, I'd be interested in building a hotel and convention center. Time will tell."
He also offered to have his company manage whatever convention center emerges.
In the meantime, if the proposed Residence Inn becomes fact, it would be the first substantial private investment in the Antelope Valley project, the flood-control, transportation and urban revitalization plan for the Antelope Creek watershed in the core of Lincoln.
The site chosen covers the block bounded by 17th, 18th, P and Q streets.
Mayor Coleen Seng led local officials and business representatives in praising and thanking Hammons for his vision and commitment.
"As a longtime downtown supporter, and one of Antelope Valley's earliest advocates, I am pleased to see private business making plans to invest in one of Lincoln's oldest areas," Seng said.
Jim Fram, president of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, called Hammons a hero for the investment he is committing. "I predict this will kick start more private investment in Antelope Valley," Fram said.
Kent Seacrest, the local real estate attorney and shepherd of the Antelope Valley project so far, said the plan outlined a goal of $3 in private investment for every $240 public dollars.
"This is a great first start to that goal," Seacrest said.
The Antelope Valley timetable was to get the flood plain issues resolved in six to seven years and the road network done about the same time, Seacrest said.
"To get significant private redevelopment going ahead of time is unbelievable," Seacrest said.
Seng was also quick to respond to the broader development aspirations described by Hammons. The 86-year-old lodging developer from Springfield, Mo., has had eyes for Lincoln, especially the Haymarket, certainly since he built the Embassy Suites at a cost of $32 million five years ago.
"I wanted more land, but I couldn't get it," he said.
Seng expressed strong interest in working with Hammons to explore development of a convention center in what she described as the area west of the Haymarket.
After a yearlong study, a consultant hired by Lincoln organizations to explore the possibility of a new arena picked five possible sites made public Wednesday. The optimum site is now occupied by the U.S. Postal Service between R and T and Seventh and Ninth streets.
"It is exciting that we have now been approached by a private investor with experience in convention centers and arenas throughout the United States," Seng said. "But this proposed project is in the very early stages. The project could face many challenges and we must have more information before we'll know if we are in a position to take advantage of the opportunity to partner with Mr. Hammons."
He talked like he was ready to go yesterday.
"Lincoln's going to keep growing," Hammons said. "They're not going to close the State Capitol, they're not going to close the university.
"I'd consider (building) a Hilton or a Renaissance, one of Marriott's top brands."
And what if the city wanted to build an arena somewhere other than in the Haymarket?
"I'd have to look at it," he said.
Hammons' plan for a Residence Inn by Marriott also faces some public scrutiny before it comes to fruition.
The city must amend the Antelope Valley redevelopment plan to accommodate it, advertise for competitive proposals, award the deal to Hammons or a competitor and execute tax-increment financing to acquire and prepare the land.
Hammons said he'd like to get started in July and open it in the summer of 2006.
As recently as this week, private landowners of the site had heard only rumors about a plan to displace them.
The hotel would be a four-story, extended-stay type of lodging built in what Hammons called a European architecture style.
His company said the hotel would have studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites, all of which will include residential amenities and kitchen appliances.
Hammons expects its clientele to be, for example, a combination of visiting academics and others with business at the university, and people doing business with state government.
Back at the Hammons home place in Lincoln, the 255-suite Embassy Suites, his company said it would start immediately on a four-month project renovating the lobby and switching out the bedding in the suites.
"They're real nice, home, cozy beds," said Lynnie Green Scheibeler, general manager. "They're cushiony light pillow-top beds."
And, Scheibeler said, the lobby needed a little more "pow."
The hotel will remain open during the renovation.
Reach Dick Piersol at 473-7241 or dpiersol@journalstar.com.
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