A couple of sources confirmed to me today that the city definitely had a meeting last week to talk about re-siding the Events Center, and while it was decided that it will be re-done, the bigger question remains, “Who is footing the bill?”
Also, another bird landed on my shoulder and told me that the Parks and Rec department had to ‘recruit’ people to be on the Indoor Aquatics Center design committee after apparently the desired ‘kind’ of people did not apply. The city announced on November 24 they had 50 applicants, but I think some serious ‘scrubbing’ was going on. If this is true, I find it interesting that something that is supposedly so popular and needed that the city would have to recruit (cherry pick) people? I would have thought that would have been an easy list to fill.
Lastly, I guess all the grand development that is supposed to occur around the Events Center just had another bump in the road;
A recent auction failed to land a buyer for the property that used to be The Oaks Hotel & Convention Center. The land at 3300 W. Russell St. generated a lot of interest, according to Yvette VanDerBrink of VanDerBrink Auctions, but offers weren’t high enough . . .
Pretty sad when you can’t even auction off a blank plot of land less then a mile from the Events Center.
Everyone wants to distance themselves from the lame duck emperor mayor.
Who’s gonna build a hotel when the city is building two in the area. Lodging & sales tax reverts back to the city. It’s a 25% advantage private hoteliers can’t compete with. To make commercial development work, one must be an insider to get design approval, tax abatement, & TIF money.
The Oaks Motel site would be a great spot for a used car lot or a honky-tonk. Provided it isn’t already haunted.
Zoned C-4 – could be a Walmart – not restricted to use as a hotel.
Yup – I was one of the 50 and received a “the process is taking longer than expected,” message last week which made me laugh. Too bad this committee will not be made up of people that have a true interest in this project for whatever reason.
Kinda of sounds like they could have had 1,000 people apply, but finding the ‘right’ 10 people is the problem. I heard that several of the SAVE Spellerberg folks applied to, and haven’t heard anything either. Can’t wait to see this ‘weeded’ out list.
Just like eating out in SF. Seven Hundred restaurants in Sioux Falls, but not a decent place to eat.