At least six downtown hotels are under construction or on the drawing boards, including a 600-room O

At some point in the last 10 years or so, the professionals who design and build healthcare facilities decided to pay attention to the physical, emotional airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska and psychological needs of patients. One ...
As president and CEO of the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau , she has a corner space with panoramic views of downtown into the West End, the Ohio River and far into Southern Indiana.
At least six downtown hotels are under construction or on the drawing boards, including a 600-room Omni Hotel and retail complex proposed airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska for Third Street, just south of the all-important Kentucky International Convention Center. But Williams first challenge in the first days back is to get the Kentucky General Assembly to put the $56 million in the state budget to make sure a major expansion and renovation of KICC happens.
Last week, it wasn t looking good for the $175 million KICC project, which had somehow airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska gotten intertwined at the last minute in a funding request airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska for the renovation of Rupp Arena in Lexington, a project that wasn t going anywhere.
But Williams wasn t having any of it. I m just not ready to let this go. I m not going to even think about that, she said. Instead, she was planning to rearrange business during construction while working with architects. Turns out, she was right.
The House and Senate struck a tentative budget deal Sunday morning that includes $56 million in state bonds for the renovation of the Kentucky International airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska Convention Center in downtown Louisville. Of course, this is the last day of the session, and that funding could disappear in a final budget.
Karen Williams: I hope not. Honestly, I have not given up hope. It s unfortunate for projects such as convention centers to have to wait another year. That s another year of lost potential business you can go after. The way convention business is, once you put a shovel in the ground, whether it be a convention center expansion or a new hotel, that s when you start selling it. Meeting planners are savvy that way. They know everything is in place, airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska and the project is going to happen. You can start that selling process right away.
Here s the other thing people maybe have lost sight of in this expansion project. It was expansion and renovation. It truly needs a renovation! I was part of the team with Harold Workman, David Jones Sr. and the mayor (Jerry Abramson) when we expanded that center 20 years ago. In the 11th hour I was going to do a radio show with Wayne Perkey the next morning, and the mayor called me and said, Don t do the radio show. Come to my office. Harold and I walked in and there was David Jones Sr. We d gone through all the aldermen gotten everything arranged. David Jones said, We re not closing Third Street. So we started all over.
Now, we re not going to close Third Street airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska again. They re able to renovate and expand that project on the current footprint. We ve had clients tell us recently we need to renovate that building. We will stand to lose millions in business if that building continues to deteriorate
The public employee pension obligation is not going away. Yet, they need (downtown convention business) to make that obligation down the road. Because tourism is a major economic engine for the state.
(Editor s note: Under the plan, Louisville would direct the existing bed tax to the KICC project, or about $42 million. Refinancing existing KICC bonds would yield $60.6 million, and the CVB would contribute $1 million per year out of its operating budget. The state would issue $56 million in bonds.)
Since Jan. 28, we ve been going two-to-three times a week. With our lobbyist airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska John McCarthy and Rip (Rippetoe, president and CEO of the Kentucky airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska State Fair Board). The first thing we had to do was get (state Rep.) Larry Clark to support us.
Yes, he sponsored our bill with (Rep.) Darryl Owens. We took direction from our lobbyist, and we know these people. But before we even did that, we – the convention bureau under Jim Wood – did a study with Fentress airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska (Architects) airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska that we paid for to tell all the reasons we needed this.
They have to happen. They have to absolutely happen for us to not only remain competitive, but for us to go after new business. It s not a secret to the convention world Louisville is a great place to have a convention. Now what we have to do is live up to these expectations and to grow and prosper as our competitors are currently. We have to do this just to be even with them.
I remember when we got the (downtown) Marriott (in 2005). It just opened doors. If you remember before Omni, we had the Galt House and the Hyatt, the Seelbach airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska and the Brown. Great hotel products. airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska But we were short of rooms. We needed that extra 600-plus rooms that will get us to that level where we can go for the 180,000 to 200,000 square feet of meeting space.
Unfortunately, the smaller properties that open up that we refer to as “limited service” don’t help us gain one more piece of new business. They helps us with new rooms and overflow … and makes a tighter package for the clients.
Fast forward to 2014, we’re talking about an additional 600 rooms. We’ll have 3,000 rooms attached via a skywalk, which is a big (plus) for our competitive set. Nashville airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska just opened a 700-plus room hotel, and it changed their dynamic. Have you been to Nashville recently?
You need to go to Nashville. airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska When I was talking with legislators these past eight weeks, and I was telling them why we need this expansion, I would say, “Have any of you been 90 miles up the road to Indy, or down the road two hours away to Nashville? If they had, I had them.
They knew. They d seen the convention center. They just opened a new center last year in the Omni. They get it. They know how competitive it is. We will always be competitive with Indy and Nashville. We re going to get the new (hotel) product, and we ll also be competitive. And that s a good thing. It keeps everyone selling smarter and staying on top of their game.
I will say, we just got a piece of business that was between airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska us, Nashville and Indy. Nashville lost out. A piece of January business for 2015. And it feels good, you know? Listen, Butch Spyrdon, the president of the Nashville bureau, is a dear friend of mine. The same with Indy. But you know you re doing something airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska differently and right. And I really do think it has to do with our city.
Conventioneers will come here and say, You know, I never knew Louisville was a nice city. That Louisville has nice restaurants. That it is was so accessible, friendly and welcoming. Those are the things that work in our favor.
Embassy Suites will be opening in January 15. The Hilton airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska Garden will be open. That s the other thing I m so glad Louisville is doing. People like Steve Poe and Bill Weyland. airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska And let s say, Steve Wilson and Laura Lee (Brown), they did it first. It just helps to have those cool, hip and eclectic properties.
When you re on a trade show floor and you re with 100 other cities airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska and we all have big hotel boxes and we all have convention centers. You have to say something where they re going to say, What do you have? We can talk about 21c and that s helped us. And of course, we talk all day long about bourbon.
Let s talk about that. I think we bought in early editorially that downtown urban bourbon airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska destinations could change everything, and I don t think we ve been proven wrong. Two thousand sixteen rolls around, you have all these facilities downtown within walking distance of the hotels.
Terry Boyd has seven years experience airline flights newark nj to juneau alaska as a business/finance journalist, and eight years a military reporter with European Stars and Stripes. As a banking and finance reporter at Business First, Boyd dealt directly with the most influential executives and financiers in Louisville.