Springfield Business Journal_2019-03-18

F R E S H Micro Markets energize your office! See how at c-and-a-vending.com (417) 860-3507 BEST SERVICE • BEST SELECTION • BEST VALUE Launa Boatman & Financial Services, Inc. PECK’S Insurance Specialists in Employee Benefits and Individual Life, Health, Long Term Care and Medicare Supplement Insurance 3861 S. Jefferson Springfield, Mo. 65807 Phone: 417-883-1331 www.LesliePeck.com Leslie A. Peck, ChFC, CLU Launa Boatman SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL · 51 MARCH 18-24, 2019 FROM THE COVER He said Bass Pro has not b een part of the convention center discussion prior to the new Hunden report and has had no formal follow-up conversations with city, chamber or CVB officials. “We haven’t formed any conclusions on it,” Wlezien said. “I don’t think there’s any rush to create any action until we’ve thought through all the scenarios.” Kimberlin said the report serves as a first step. Next, officials with the city and Bass Pro will need to determine if such a proj- ect would feasibly fit in with the campus, which includes the outdoor retailer’s flag- ship store and Wonders of Wildlife Nation- al Museum & Aquarium. WOW brought in 1.6 million visitors its first year after re- opening in September 2017, spurring the CVB’s request for the study, Kimberlin said. “It will be a process,” he said, adding Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris is the type of person who thinks things through very thoroughly. “It will also have to be a public- private partnership, and those can be very difficult to put together.” According to the report, funding recom- mendations include the creation of a Bass Pro community improvement district with a 1 percent tax and up to a 2 percent in- crease in the city hotel tax, currently at 5 percent citywide. The study also projected the recommended convention center and hotel would generate more than $638 mil- lion in direct, net new spending within the city over 20 years. Wlezien said he wasn’t sure if Bass Pro had available property on its campus for adding future hotels, if that was an option they wanted to pursue. “That’s one of the things we’re looking at now,” he said, adding logistical, opera- tional and financial considerations all need to be made. “Do we have room for all those things, along with ongoing parking needs?” Hotel developer Earl Steinert of EAS In- vestment Enterprises Inc. questions how many more hotels can be built in the city. With last year’s additions – such as the 92- room Vib Springfield, and new properties coming this year, including a 98-room Tru by Hilton and a second 48-room property for Hotel Vandivort – Steinert character- izes Springfield as “overbooked.” Over 500 hotel rooms were added in the last two years to now nearly 6,000 rooms in Springfield, according to Springfield Busi- ness Journal research. Another nearly 240 rooms are expected to come online this year. Steinert, known for building Hampton Inns, said he’s not interested in developing a hotel in the Bass Pro area but understands the appeal with WOW as a big draw. Stein- ert also has concerns about how much busi- ness hotels in that area could attract in the slower period for the industry, which he said is November through February. Economic vitality A convention center falls under broader efforts of the city to boost economic vitality – one of the priorities of City Council, said Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement. But she added discussions on the topic of a conven- tion center in the Bass Pro area have been “exploratory,” noting the city has no fa- vored preference of where such a complex should be at this time. “It’s pretty early looking at a project of this size and scope,” she said, adding the city has no timeline for discussions with Bass Pro. Part of that economic vitality comes from travel and tourism, which Kimberlin said has risen in recent years in Springfield, reaching a record 1.38 million overnight visitors in 2018. Room sales were at $117.7 million in 2018, up 6.3 percent from $110.7 million in 2017, he added. However, he said the city’s convention market has been flat during that time due to competition from outside the area. When including combined larger meeting space options in town, Kimberlin has said Spring- field has approximately 300,000 square feet of total convention space available. The report recommends the creation of a public-private ownership and partnership model, through which the city of Spring- field would be the owner and a third-party independent manager would be the opera- tor. For example, Kimberling pointed to the downtown Springfield Expo Center, which is owned by the city and managed by Atri- um Hospitality LP. Kimberlin said Bass Pro could be a pos- sible manager but noted a third-party ad- vantage would in effect bring a sales team as part of the management group to market the facility. While all options remain on the table, including the vacant 1.7-acre parcel down- town, Kimberlin said the Bass Pro area would certainly provide a unique conven- tion center setting. “There’s only one Bass Pro campus in the world like what we have here,” he said. “If there were a convention center on that campus done in the Bass Pro style, it would be something that no other city had.” Complex Recommendations A feasibility study of the Bass Pro Shops complex for a potential convention center and hotel development recommends a 100,000-square-foot convention center and three hotels: Convention Center (numbers in square feet) • Exhibit Hall – 50,000 • Ballroom – 25,000 • Meeting rooms – 25,600 Total – 100,600 Headquarter Hotel (220-300 rooms) Total of 14,000 square feet in amenities • Ballroom – 8,000 • Meeting rooms – 5,600 • Boardroom – 400 Select Service Hotel 1 (160-180 rooms) Select Service Hotel 2 (100-120 rooms) Source: Hunden Strategic Partners Study: $638M projected in new spending Continued from page 1