- It is three o'clock, so let me call the meeting of the County Capital Improvement Board of January 21st,
- 2026 to order. I will ask Mr. Parrish to call the roll. John Leichhardt, present. Doug Bruce, present.
- Jim Silverstein, here. Joyce Polling, here. Galen Cassidy, here. Jay Baer, Adam Tease, here. Thank you.
- Next order of business is swearing in of members to new appointments. The statute requires that our
- first meeting after January 15th of each year, we swear in those who are newly appointed to the CIB.
- So our reappointments, and I have documentation from all of the appointing authorities, our reappointments
- are for John Weichardt and Joyce Pulling, the commissioners appointments.
- And J. Bear and Adam Teese, mayoral appointments for a period to end on January 15th, 2028. In addition,
- we have a new appointment of Galen Cassidy to complete Jeff McKim's term. And that appointment was made
- by the county council. And Galen's term is to January 15th, 2027, because it's the second year of the
- original term to which Jeff McKim was appointed.
- There is a wrinkle that I need to make you aware of today in that we are not able to swear in Jay and
- Adam today as they are attending remotely. And so they can't be sworn in remotely. And as a result,
- they will not vote on any action items today, but will fully participate in discussions and questions.
- So with that, I'm going to ask Cindy Dolson, Notary Public from Bunger & Robertson's law firm,
- to administer the oaths to myself and Joyce for new two-year terms expiring January 15, 2028, and to
- Galen for the balance of a term to expire January 15, 2027. So Cindy, if you're prepared to do that.
- I am. Please raise your right hand. I state your name. I, John. I, Galen Cassidy. Do solemnly swear
- that I will support
- You saw me swear that I have some support. The Constitutions of the United States and the State of Indiana.
- The Constitutions of the United States and the State of Indiana. I will faithfully and impartially discharge
- my duties. I will faithfully and impartially discharge my duties. As a member of the Monroe County Capital
- Board of Managers. As a member of the Monroe County Capital Board of Managers. To the best of my knowledge,
- best of my knowledge, skill and ability, skills and ability. So help me God. So help me God. Thank you.
- Thank you. Thank you, Cindy. And Galen, welcome to the Capital Improvement Board.
- Next item of business is election of officers for 2026 as part of our annual reorganization responsibilities.
- So I will open the floor for nominations for president of the board for the term 2026. I would like
- to nominate John Weickart as president. Second. I've learned the lesson very quickly. The nominations
- are now closed. So will you please take the role?
- John Weichart. Yes. Doug Bruce. Yes. Jim Silberstein. Yes. Joyce Poehling. Yeah. Jay Baer. Adam Tease.
- Oh, there. Galen Castee. Yes. Yeah. So, okay, so now the floor is open for nominations for the Office
- of Vice President for 2026. And I would nominate Doug Bruce. All right, seeing nominations have been
- moved and seconded.
- Without hearing any other nominations, would you please take the roll? John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce?
- Yes. Jim Silberstein? Yes. Joyce Poehling? Yes. Galen Cassidy? Yes. I'll now open the floor for nominations
- for Treasurer for the year 2026. I'll move to nominate Jim Silberstein for Treasurer. I'll second. So
- we have a motion and a second. Seeing no other nominations, I would ask for you to call the roll.
- John Weickart. Yes. Doug Bruce. Yes. Jim Silberstein. Yes. Joyce Poehling. Yes. Galen Cassidy. Yes.
- And now open the floor for nominations for secretary for 2026. I nominate Joyce Poehling. Second. So
- it's been moved and seconded. I see no other nominations. Again, I would ask for call of the roll. John
- Weickart. Yes. Doug Bruce. Yes. Jim Silberstein. Yes. Joyce Poehling. Yes. Galen Cassidy. Yes. Thank
- you very much.
- Item number four, approval of consent agenda. You've received minutes of the board meeting of December
- 17th, of the special meeting of January 9th, claims and the financial report. So is there a motion to
- accept the consent agenda? So moved. So moved. So it's been, it's been moved and seconded by that end
- of the table over there. Any questions or discussion about the consent agenda? Seeing and hearing none,
- would you please take the roll? John Weichart, yes.
- Doug Bruce? Yes. Jim Soberstein? Yes. Joyce Pulling? Yes. Galen Cassidy? Thank you. Yes. Thank you,
- thank you. Item number five, Treasurer's Report. Mr. Soberstein, in the last five minutes, do you have
- anything you want to tell us about? No report. Okay, no report. Very well done. Item number six, President's
- Report. I simply want to report out that
- It's already been forwarded to you, but I approved two change orders for under $25,000 since our last
- meeting. One was for $8,317 for revisions, for signage and barricades, for our traffic control issues.
- Change order number two was for $2,220, and that was for screen wall and foundation alterations.
- So I made those approvals. I forwarded those to you for your review. Happy to answer any questions that
- you might have about them. Seeing none, let's move to construction update. Weddle Brothers, Andrew Sherry.
- Thank you, John. Andrew Sherry, project manager for Weddle Brothers. Let's see if I can share my screen here.
- Okay, so a few things to talk about. Just an overview of the project currently, the construction progress,
- upcoming activities, and then at the end a beam signing event that we've been discussing. So project
- overview, we continue AI walk safety observations on a daily basis. I put a snippet here that shows
- how we utilize our drone deploy. That's how we get our aerial photos, we do time lapse photos, things
- like that.
- But our superintendents on site walk with a camera on a daily, actually it's three times a week, so
- nearly a daily basis. And it creates an AI generated report on top of our safety observations that we
- do so that we can track, you know, slips, trips and falls, housekeeping, things like that. It's just
- a good way for us to double check and pull everything together. Currently we have over 150 days working
- since we've broke ground. This does not include weekends and we have worked some weekends. So it's over 150 days.
- We've had over 120 employees go through an orientation, which is what we require prior to coming on
- site, making sure that we're going over site-specific details, bringing up hazards as we progress through
- the project and things to think about before anybody can start work. To date, this is a great topic
- that we like to bring up. No recordables and no injuries on the project.
- That's a huge milestone. There's a lot of efforts that goes into that, especially on a project like
- this with the tight logistics and all that we have going. I mean, as we've talked about on a monthly
- basis, and for those of you that have seen it, we've got steel going, we've got excavations open, we've
- got all these things going, all these people working around each other, truck access, excavators, all
- these things. So a lot of effort has paid off here, and a good note. Currently, we're billing right
- around 25%, so 25% complete.
- a lot of materials on site. Again, I'll get into the details as we progress through the presentation.
- So construction progress, structural steel update, all long span trusses have been set on the project.
- That was a huge feat, something we talked about for a long time, planned on doing. But yes, as of now,
- we are 100% complete. And we're going to fall back and start detailing those out. So roof decking has
- been staged for all of our roofing activities to take place. You can see that in this photo here.
- Sequences five and six, which are along college here right across the street, are being set and will
- be set by the end of this week for us to go into the connector that we have our big closure coming up
- on. The 300-ton crane that we've been utilizing for the last month or so will be demobilized this Friday.
- We will bring a new crane in for the connector steel and also the back of house, the sequence seven,
- so the last deal that we're going to set on the project.
- So right now, I think it's 250 feet in the air, boomed out to reach what they're reaching today. Slide
- one grade, sequence one. Again, I've referenced this photo in the top right before, but we have five
- slide on grade sequences. The four, the majority of the exhibit hall and surrounding areas, and then
- five is the back of house, kitchen area, maintenance rooms, things like that. Sequence one underground
- is to be completed on tomorrow. And then we're preparing to pour this by February 2nd.
- We've got a few things that we've been working out. Obviously, today's weather is way better than what
- it has been, but we're trying to dodge the cold and make sure that everything is brought up to par before
- pouring. Sequence two, underground electrical and plumbing is in progress, preparing to pour that by
- February 13th. So on the bottom right, you can see what the actual construction looks like from an aerial photo.
- The right side would match up to the right side on the top photo, and we're just progressing
- in a counterclockwise orientation. So we'll work towards sequences three, sequences four, and then start
- interior and exterior work. These are just a few photos that I took this morning of what we're doing.
- So the photo on your left, it's hard to see in the shadow, but these are the actual floor boxes that
- will be in the exhibit hall. These are the runs that goes there.
- And then just some excavations. The bottom right photo on the right-hand side, you can see
- all the underground, so they are roughing in the restrooms right now. So again, we can progress through
- the side on grade. The south lot next to your work, we are 100% complete with the underground detention
- system. The duck bank has been completed to a stopping point to get us out from underneath the parking
- lot and go into the building as we start those foundations on the south side. And then our
- initial construction pad, which
- is just an access lot, if you will, that will be underneath the final parking lot has been poured so
- that we can now utilize the south entrance and we have a couple different options there. The connector,
- this is a photo as of this morning too showing the anchor bolts. So our anchor bolts and foundations
- are completed. Our connector material will start arrival tomorrow and be completed Friday. That way
- that this Sunday we're going to move out
- start implementing our, uh, MOT maintenance of traffic plan phase two, which closes college. And then
- we will start seeing this steel go in the air Monday morning around six o'clock in the morning. Structural
- steel is planning on right now, uh, working seven days a week just because of weather and everything
- like that. We'd rather get ahead than behind. Um, and then before we open, open college back up, we'll
- have the decks poured and all the steel set detailed out. So a lot of work to take place in that time period.
- Upcoming activities. The college closure will be implemented Sunday night. Our crews will be here around
- 1030 Sunday night. We have all the barrels in the signage placed right now. We've been working with
- the city to get initial reviews, make sure our signs are in the right spots. We've had message boards
- placed and then again Sunday night snowstorm maybe or maybe not moving in. We've been planning around
- that one today too. But we're doing everything that we can and we will be shutting the road down Sunday
- night at 1030 so that the morning commute
- We'll have to use the detour. The connector structural steel, again, is to be completed by February
- 6. Connector elevated deck to be poured by the 11th, and then college to be reopened on February 13.
- That will then initiate phase three of our maintenance of traffic plan, which is south college to one
- lane. That allows for all of our perimeter work, additional demolition, things like that. Upcoming
- activities, we're very excited that masonry work is going to be starting this coming Monday.
- So the photo you see on the bottom right is the southeast portion of the building. Block and brick will
- start on the north side of the register lot. They're mobilizing in again Monday the 26th. Framing activities
- are going to start February. We're rejecting mid February after our slab pours. They're going to start
- on all of the columns. So all the brick columns that we see around the perimeter of the building have
- framing and shading behind it. And then roof
- roof decking and roofing is going to start in probably late February. So that'll go pretty quick. Interior
- work as they progress around the facade, they're going to jump to interior framed walls and interior
- masonry walls. So that will be happening concurrently. So again, we're going to see the building really
- start to take shape in February, March. Last thing I want to talk about is the beam signing event.
- We are going to have it on Friday, February 27th, 3 o'clock in the all-cott room here. This beam will
- be a part of our last structural steel sequence, which is sequence seven near the kitchen area. The
- beam will be five feet, 120-something pounds. And I was told that I cannot use black or gold markers
- at this event. So there may be some red. So I hope everybody can stop by for that and see that. Again,
- it's a monumental feat.
- the last sequence that we'll have here. So any progress? Thank you. And I would, first of all, shout
- out to Mr. Tease for suggesting the idea of signing the beam. I've distributed by email invitations
- to all of our elected officials and all of those who are involved in the project and have received a
- very positive response. People think it's going to be a lot of fun.
- and they're looking forward to doing it. So great idea, Adam, and thanks to everybody for working on
- this and coordinating it. I might ask Mr. Sherry, what's the date we're shooting for for completion
- of this project? Elvis's birthday. I have a photo in the office, which is January 8th. Yeah, I presented
- Mr. Sherry with a picture of Elvis Presley that he can have on his desk to be reminded each day that
- January 8th,
- 2027 Elvis's birthday is the assigned completion date for this project, which I will mention is 352
- days from today. So as long as we've all been involved in all of this, we're down to 352 days. And if
- we miss it, it's all on Andrew Sherry. We won't miss it. We will not miss it. All right. Thank you.
- Any questions for Mr. Sherry about his report? Thank you.
- Item 8, change orders over $25,000. Deb Koonce, J.S. Health. Great. So we have two.
- We have two change orders that we're asking for approval from the CIB today. Both are unforeseen conditions.
- We continue to find some rock that needs to be addressed. And so these are not to exceed mounts for
- both the Southwest Foundation and at the new sanitary line for a total of $61,914. If it doesn't take
- all of that, this money will be returned to the CIB.
- feeling good that this is going to be a max that it will be at. So we just ask for your consideration
- and approval so that Whittle can continue. Yes, and I might point out we've seen repeatedly several
- times change orders that are a result of the movement of the sanitary line, which was not anything we'd
- originally anticipated when we were designing the project. So when we think about cost related to these
- change orders,
- many of them had to do with that relocation of that sanitary sewer line. Can I have a motion to approve
- these change orders and then we can have discussion if we need to? So it's been moved, seconded, okay
- and seconded. So now is there any
- Just to add, I should have added this maybe before, but this shows the summary to date of where I should
- have mentioned this. So the total contingency used to date with this approval puts us at 25% complete.
- I just got confirmation that we are right at about 25% of the project has been invoiced, which means
- the value of the project is covering at 25%. So our spend on contingency and our value of the project
- invoiced to date are right in line with each other.
- Okay, so we have a motion and a second, and then we have this additional information. So is there any
- discussion on the motion or any questions related to these two change orders? Okay, seeing none, would
- you please take the roll? John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes. Jim Silberstein? Yes. Joyce Polling?
- Yes. Galen Cassidy? Yes. Thank you. Item number nine, recommendation for selection of furniture fixtures
- and equipment.
- consultant, including approval of an initial scope fee, J.S. Hill? Yeah, I'm going to ask Mary, my associate
- Mary Kopinski to do this presentation. Sure. Mary, you can come, you can sit here where the empty chair
- is if you want to do that.
- We probably need for you to be by the microphone. Adam for a few. So working with the FF&E committee,
- that's furniture fixtures and equipment, we had issued a request for information. We received two responses.
- Both respondents were interviewed by the committee last week, and the committee
- made a recommendation to go with reload strategies. We have asked them to work in two phases, an initial
- phase one for scoping specifications and budgeting so that we can confirm where we are with our overall
- budget before moving further into the actual procurement phase. That fixed fee is presented at $48,600.
- And that is for an overall package of about $3 million worth of FF&E expenses. Phase two will be further
- down the line. And once we have the full scoping, then we would ask them for a fee at the end of phase
- one to move further through the rest of the process, which is the actual procurement, shop drawings,
- receiving the material,
- being here to install and closing out complete with warranty. So with that, on behalf of the committee,
- we have requested to approve reload strategies for our procurement specialists. Mary, are we also asking
- to approve phase one for the scoping? Yes, for the fee.
- Yeah, so we're asking to proceed with the recommended consultant, reload strategies, as well as the
- phase one scoping specification and budgeting for that. So is there a motion to approve that recommendation?
- I would move to make that motion. Okay. It's been moved and seconded, so now we can have discussion
- if any. Are there any questions or any discussion about the motion to approve reload strategies and the
- Phase one scoping specifications and budget. All right. Seeing none, would you please take the roll?
- John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes. Joyce Polling? Yes. Galen Cassidy? Yes.
- Thank you. Thank you, Mary. Item number 10, wayfinding update. Eddie Layton, Schmidt? Yes, thank you.
- brief update this month as we work through the wayfinding and graphic design process for signage around
- the building. We had a really good meeting last week with the committee to work through design concepts.
- We presented three concepts. We narrowed that down to one, a few minor tweaks to make to that. And so
- we are working towards our original schedule of approval of that concept formally by the CIB in the
- February meeting. So you'll see that.
- In the meantime, we're making those refinements and also have a meeting scheduled with the city to talk
- through what they would require from us, what the approval process looks like, and if they are going
- to have any red flags or issues they see with what we're planning. So that's our update. Take any questions.
- Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Layton? All right. Thank you, Eddie. Item number
- 11, Arts Project Update, the BEAT Advisory Group, Holly Warren is here with us.
- And I just want to just shout out Eddie and Andrew, thank you so much for being part of those conversations
- and making that a reality. They're just what we're doing. And several of the finalists have indicated
- that they are going to be coming to Bloomington.
- to visit our town and we're really excited to host them here and show them what's unique about it. And
- so I just wanna quickly run through, if you could actually go back one slide, there we go. These are
- just the next key dates to keep in mind. So between now and April 10th, they'll be doing their site
- visits here in Bloomington and working on their proposals. We'll ask them to submit those final proposals
- to us on April 10th.
- And then we're going to spend the rest of the month of April looking at those proposals, doing virtual
- interviews with each of the finalists. And then we're going to do a pretty intensive public feedback
- period. We will be meeting people where they are again at farmers markets in front of Uptown and in
- other places around the town just to understand what people like and don't like about what the designs
- are. We'll also be doing another presentation and from about
- The fourth of May to the 15th of May, the recommendation committee will be making their ultimate decision
- about who they believe is the strongest candidate for the commission. And then we will come back to
- you all on your May 20th meeting to make a recommendation of who we believe should receive the commission.
- So that's where we are now, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
- Thank you, Holly. Any questions? And Joyce and Adam both serve on this recommendation committee. And
- I don't know if they would like to add any comments to what Holly's provided, but you're certainly welcome
- to. Learned a lot. I have a question. So you did a global search. Yes. Could you tell us where those
- five finalists are from? Yes. So they're mostly from the coasts. So I believe going from the
- top, Haudenosaunee is from LA.
- Thank you. Benjamin Ball, also from LA. Kip Kobayashi from California, not LA. Jason Bruges Studio is
- actually from London. And they're coming to visit. I'm very excited. And Matthew Mazota is actually
- professor at MIT, but spends most of his time in upstate New York. But again,
- All of these artists are very committed to learning about the communities that they're doing their work
- in. And again, we expect most of them to come here and learn about us. And they have this kind of experience
- going into communities to do this work. So these are primarily blue state artists then. Looks that way.
- Thank you. Any questions? Other observations? Yes. Just a quick one.
- I assume Schmidt is sharing project documents so that they have CAD or whatever they need to kind of
- give you their presentation, which would probably be all 3D electronic. Yes. They've all requested 3D
- models, and Eddie's been working with me to get those to them. Any other questions? Just a comment for
- me, and I know we've said this before, and obviously I'm biased.
- Thank you, Holly, for working through all this. 180 applicants from around the world was not easy to
- get to all of our recommendation committees and our groups that oversaw this. But through that process,
- we were able to get some really talented artists. So we're excited for what they're going to put together
- in the proposals. And thankfully, Schmidt and Weddle have been very helpful in providing the most resources
- they need to
- be able to submit a really nice proposal for us. So I'm excited. Thank you. And I want to mention that
- Galen coming on the board, he said, you know, am I still going to have to do this night? As Lee Corso
- would say, not so fast. You're not allowed to not be involved with this group. So Galen is still involved
- as a member of our board now with the Beat Advisory Group. So thank you, Galen. And thank you, Holly.
- Thanks, everyone. Thank you.
- Item 12, hotel update. I know Mr. Dora is here. We welcome you to come up, Mr. Dora. And whatever works
- best for you there, or you're welcome to come up and sit down with the board, whichever is best. Can
- you get him in? Are we OK?
- Okay, can you hear me? I'm speaking, can you hear me? No? Okay, okay, he's in. Okay, I'm on.
- Can you hear me, Vince? Yeah, I can hear you. Well, it really would be a meeting if you didn't have
- me talking, so great deal, thank you. So if you guys are aware, the last meeting
- kind of gave us the homework assignment of determining what site we work with for our project. And so
- through the holidays, we had several phone calls. And we don't have a great amount of detail yet. I'm
- happy that earlier today we sent over an email to know we would forward the project to the cloud site,
- the IP controls. So we have
- a simple blocking diagram that would show a 200-room hotel, full-service restaurant and bar, and be
- able to accommodate all the requirements of the host hotel for the detention center. And we've asked
- for the land to be donated to the project, as you guys have said before, that that would be agreeable
- to, and that would be all we would be looking for to make this happen. So happy to provide any details
- on that, answer any questions you guys might have,
- Yeah, Vince, we received the information within the last hour or so before the board meeting. And I
- know it's quite detailed. Would you just take a moment and go through some of what you provided for
- us? Surveys, phase one.
- all that kind of land stuff. We're going to need to give that to our architect so that he can start
- planning out the early schematic design plans, at which point we will be able to start reporting back
- to you guys, working with the city on approvals, working with Marriott or Hilton, you know, the brand
- that we choose for approvals, and also working with the GC to develop our final scene. We think we have
- a good pro forma that matches similar projects that we're doing up in Indiana, or sorry, Indianapolis.
- I've got a AC by Marriott under construction right now that is on a similar level of scope that this
- hotel would be as a tribute by Marriott. And so we have a pretty good idea, we think, of where that
- pricing falls in. And so we think we can get this thing done on a performance basis and using the feasibility
- study that was provided to us that HBS did. So sent that blocking diagram over to you guys, sent some
- renderings and some schematic design plans about the AC, just kind of see what level of scope we're
- working off of in Fishers. Also, the LOI just kind of outlines a timeline for what we're looking at.
- And so just like any other land purchase agreement, we would be looking for kind of a 90-day due diligence
- period to give our engineers time to get those results so that we can hand them over to our architect
- and design teams so we can get that level of detail to actually put together a comprehensive plan.
- After that, we would look, assuming everything goes to plan and we all want to move forward, we would
- execute that and close that, take possession of that land, and then start the very detailed and long
- process of getting that hotel constructed. We anticipate somewhat of a two-ish year timeframe to get
- this hotel open. So the front end is going to be super important for us to all get on the same page and
- and get a document signed so that we can start that process. Obviously, we're going to need that to
- start spending the money to get those engineering reports over to our architect. And Vince, as I said,
- we received it. I don't think everybody's received it. Can you just briefly go through, for instance,
- I know in your proposal, you talk about 200 keys and other various amenities, if you will. Can you just
- verbally tell us what's included in that?
- Yeah, well, that's the highlight. So it would be a five story building, which the zoning of that area
- will provide, assuming that we are lead certified building. So that's what we aim to achieve. It'll
- have a first floor entrance. It'll have the lobby and the restaurant and bar facing college. It'll be
- a shotgun building kind of going perpendicular east and west orientation. So that the you pulled in
- and after you go through
- past the courtyard down that way, and then arrive at the front door. Parking, we'll have to work through
- with you guys on where that's gonna sit, because I think that south side, it's gonna be all taken up
- entirely by the building itself. So parking is TBD at the moment until we kind of plan all that out.
- But anyway, so we will have, like I said, a full service restaurant and bar. I don't have an exact seat
- count for the restaurant yet. It'll all depend on the spacing.
- but we will aim to either run it ourselves or start communication with some restaurant tours in town
- or from Indianapolis that might be interested in partners on this. What that looks like, I don't know,
- but it would be, if that were the case, if we were to lease that space out, it would be a high-end user
- restaurant experience, something in the lines of Italian or steakhouse or something along those lines
- that would be easily accessible and highly advantageous to partner with people coming in for this.
- convention center. And maybe use this, but just let me fire that check the box and say yes, it would
- include the 200 keys, fitness center, valley parking. Okay. Okay. Yes. Yes. Russ is going to belly park
- is that okay. Okay. I'm going to do it myself, John.
- All right. We'll count on that. And let me remind the board that what we charged Mr. Dora and his associates
- with in December was coming back to us today to tell us whether they could commit to moving forward
- with a project on our south property.
- So that's what he's reporting. As I said, we haven't had a chance to look in great detail at everything
- that is in the proposal, but I want to applaud Mr. Dora and Russ because this is a significant movement
- from where we started these conversations on December 22nd, I think was the first one, and we had a
- follow-up one on January 14th.
- You and I have had exchanges over that period of time as well. So this is this has in fact been significant
- progress over where we were a month ago. But I want to let me may I ask a question very directly. Your
- proposal I didn't see at first glance. Are you are you bringing forward to us a proposal that says it
- is not your intention to ask for public subsidies?
- Okay, I think that's an important thing for us to hear. Let me turn this over to other board members
- and ask if they have questions of Mr. Dora. Since we haven't seen anything. Yes, yes. Excuse me. Can
- you just confirm how much time you said you needed to evaluate the site
- Yeah, go ahead. And the two-year time frame is after the due diligence, after the 90 days. We'll need
- about 60 days for the due diligence. We'll need about six months to seven months to complete and finalize
- the drawings. And then we'll need about two years to build it.
- And that's information we've had all along in terms of how much time the project would take.
- I know Mr. Baer has a question or wants to comment. It is a couple of things. Thanks for your work on
- this. I know it's not easy to pull it all together. Appreciate all the efforts on the DORA team. I was
- a little confused on a couple of things.
- Does this land, assuming that it's donated to the project, does that need to appraise at a certain level
- for this to make sense for you from a financing perspective?
- Industry standard says that's going to appraise for 15 to $20,000 a key, and that's exactly where we
- need it to be, and that's where it will appraise, yes. Okay, as long as we don't need some sort of heroic
- measures on that front, that makes sense. Second, I think Vince just mentioned a five-floor project.
- I think in one of the documents you sent over with the LOI this morning, it stipulated a sixth floor.
- I just wanted to see if there was some clarification on that, because it does
- impact the UDO and other guidelines in Bloomington? If I said six, it was a typo. I apologize. But with
- this product on the south site, it would be a five-story building, which will help us cut down on overall
- construction costs and the site's wide enough that we're able to... Yeah, it goes long this way. Yeah.
- Great. Thanks. The third one is there was some discussion of an AC, and I know you're doing an AC. I
- think it's in Fishers.
- But then also some discussion of a tribute. I wasn't sure kind of what direction you were headed because
- they are in a different class, at least in terms of Bonvoy's system. They are and they are. If you ask
- someone from Marriott or Hilton, they're going to tell you all the reasons why there's a different segment.
- From an end user standpoint, they're very much similar in final presentation. So don't get hung up on
- the final brand yet because we're going to go talk to Hilton too and see what help they can give us as well.
- the promise to you guys, it's going to be a high-end, upscale, full-service boutique hotel product.
- So we will let you know once that final brand is chosen. As somebody who has 2,200 nights in Bonvoy
- Hotels, I understand and appreciate your position. Last one for me is one thing I didn't see in the
- LOI per se, but clearly we need as part of this project, period, is a commitment
- from the developers to work with the convention center and the CVB on blackout dates and group bookings.
- That's a non-negotiable in terms of making this project happen, because otherwise all this is a hotel
- near a convention center, not a convention center hotel, and that's a really critical operational difference.
- Yeah, I didn't include that in the land LOI. I didn't think that was the spot for it, but I've said
- in email and verbally several times that we'll work with the visitor bureau
- make sure that the hotel is accessible for all convention guests. And we can spell that out in more
- detail on a purchase and sale of your name. Right. Which is actually music to our ears because you're
- putting oxpits in our hotel. Yeah, and I would mention it's been the issue of appraisals. I was able
- to provide Mr. Dora with information on the assessed value of those properties on the South. Obviously,
- we'd have to have
- later on as this process would move forward. And I think maybe this is a time to mention this. I have
- made a request of the city. I communicated with Margie Rice. We've had a holiday, and I haven't heard
- back from her yet. So that's not on Margie. Asking or requesting on our behalf that we move forward
- on the transfer of those south properties to the CIB.
- so that we can move forward on a project like this. You may recall, we have both an interlocal agreement
- that identifies the transfer of assets and includes in the definition of project the hotel. We also
- have the letter from Margie Rice from May of 2024, where in response to our request to identify parcels
- that were available to us for the project,
- There were three parcels to the south that are owned by the city that were made available by that letter.
- And the letter stipulated that the Bunga Robertson property was not available. It was a purchase property.
- So we had the 2024 letter offering the transfer of those parcels to us for the project. So I formally
- requested of her that we move forward with that.
- which also will take some time, you know, for us to have that happen as well as moving forward with
- the project. So, other questions? Yes. Sure. Sure. And then I think we have some other legal issues
- we'll have to work through with Mr. Whitlatch as
- in terms of public offerings for land and those kinds of things that we will work through as well. But
- I don't know if Mr. Bruce, do you have a question? Yeah. I didn't get a chance to get through everything.
- I looked through some of it. And so my thoughts are, given that there's a lot of information and really
- a lot of moving parts right here, my thought would be, and I was looking at the calendar as well,
- I think our next regular meeting is February 18th. What I would like to do perhaps is move, make a motion
- for, I tried to write this out, a CIB special meeting in two weeks so that the hotel evaluation committee
- that we have can then evaluate and kind of clarify the new information that we have, the LOI, and so I guess
- going ahead and asking for a special meeting, which means we're not waiting until February 18th because
- two weeks would put us the third or fifth around there of February. Let me ask if you can check your
- calendar's CIB board members and see if the third or the fifth are workable for perhaps a three o'clock
- special meeting. It's good for me.
- Either one of them, Galen? Yeah. The fifth works for me. I think that's a good idea. Adam Tease, the
- fifth works for me. The fifth works for you, Adam? Yes. Let's look at the fifth then. Jay, are you available
- remotely even on the fifth? I don't mean remotely available. I mean, are you available to attend remotely?
- I am fully available in a different time zone.
- Okay. Other members of the board? Is the 5th at 3 o'clock agreeable? It's good. Joyce, is that okay
- with you? So is that everybody? 3 o'clock on the 5th? Would you repeat your motion? Yeah, I'll make
- it simple. So I would like to make a motion that we hold a CIB special meeting on the 5th of February
- at 3 o'clock.
- I assume here at the convention center so that that'll give the hotel evaluation committee a couple
- of weeks to ask some clarifications of the door group and evaluate this so that we can have a recommendation
- that we can discuss at that special meeting. Second. So it's been moved and seconded. Any discussion,
- questions, comments?
- Okay. Would you please take the role? John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes.
- Joyce Poling? Yes. Galen Cassidy? Yes. Okay. Thank you. So we will be working with you, Mr. Dorr, over
- the next couple of weeks. And as we clarify this, and then we'll come back to a special meeting on the
- 5th. Thank you. And thanks, Russ. Thanks for your, your attendance as well. Thank you. All right. Appreciate
- it. Look forward to working with you.
- Item 13, Hotel Evaluation Group, the RFP update. Deb Koontz from GSL. Is your mic on? Sorry, excuse me.
- Yes. So this is a continuation. I'm going to go into this next agenda item. But just for context, when
- we say the south properties, because there are multiple properties to the south, if you see the gray
- here at the top, that's the existing convention center, the expansion to the right. I know it's not
- very readable, but you see this box that I put in hash. When Vince is talking about the parcels to the
- south, these are the parcels that he's talking about. The Marriott is here and then parking.
- And these are two of the parking lots down here. So just for reference for everybody, OK? Does that
- help? It's one parcel with two lots. So it's both of them, I think, together.
- on a similar note than the hotel committee of which you've heard from two members. You've heard a lot
- from Jay, you've heard a lot from Doug and from Jim, right? They're all part of the hotel subcommittee
- that's part of the CIB. And so we had met also with the two mics, Mike Campbell and Mike McAfee to say,
- what are our minimum requirements, right? If there is a need for an additional RFP,
- This is before we knew that this LOI was coming, right? So we were prepared. And so we really looked
- at what would be the minimum requirements. And that includes many of the things that Vince talked about.
- He talked about 200 keys, parking spaces. It either needs to meet the ODO standard or a variance, needs
- to have a full service hotel, a fitness center, a bar lounge.
- room block agreements dedicated marketing staff to driving bookings right those are the things that
- are that are sort of the minimum that we would need to have for that host hotel and then we also talked
- about the sites that have been made available either through the county or the city through those commitment
- letters and those are all the ones that are in the crimson here on the map and so just for a reference
- those would be
- parcels to the south and parcels to the west. So we wanted to share this with the group because it had
- been prepared for this meeting before the LOI was received and so we just wanted to make sure that everybody
- knew what the hotel committee's recommendation would be for the minimum requirements for a hotel, for
- a host hotel. Any questions at this point for
- Deb on the RFP as it's been modified. Members, we've had three members of this committee, myself, Mr.
- Baer, Mr. Bruce. I guess I'd ask Mr. Bruce your thoughts. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Weichart. Another thought
- on this, because we've had such a timeline, and given the information that we've just received from
- Dora Hospitality Group,
- I would like to make another motion, if I may, that we accept the revised RFP. The requirements of it.
- The requirements of it, yes. But not issue this RFP, given that we have a little bit to learn and discuss
- with about the DORA hospitality group LOI. So this would then
- I guess my motion would need to be second, and then I can discuss it. Yeah. And if I understand the
- motion, we're approving it so that we don't have to come back to this again and again and again. We're
- approving that this would be a new RFP, but we are not reissuing it. We're just approving it so in the
- event we have to, we already have it established. So that's the... That's it. Yeah. And that keeps us
- on a timeline that we can...
- evaluate the door of recent information that we've received and not have to have another meeting to
- discuss the, or approve and issue the RFP. Because once, if we can approve it, then it can be issued
- by the issue without a special meeting. Okay. So we have a motion and a second to approve, but not issue
- the RFP as modified.
- So are there, having been moved and seconded, are there questions or discussion about that? I'm just
- wondering how much of an issue the parking is going to be because Dora is already questioning whether
- or not that's going to happen on this lot. And I'm wondering, is that a deal breaker on this RFP? Well,
- our only option as a board for a hotel
- that is under our control are the south or west parcels. Either one of them with a hotel constructed
- on it is going to create parking space issues. So we will have to deal with those parking space issues.
- And I would posit that the city and the county are going to have to have discussions about how we deal
- with parking space issues as well related to this project.
- So at some point, we will need to determine how many parking spaces are lost if we construct on the
- south, what that means to us, what parking spaces are then available and how we and how we or others
- react to that. But yeah, I mean, obviously, building south is going to take up parking spaces. Building
- west is going to take up parking spaces. But those are our those are our options at this point.
- And what I'm getting at is on an earlier version of this, we talked about underground parking. And then
- we also spoke with Dora and he expressed how expensive underground parking is downtown with the limestone
- and all of that. And I'm just wondering, is that an issue that's going to be a deal breaker,
- yes or no, with the underground parking? Because I know we can't create new surface parking. That's
- not possible.
- And we never had a guarantee we could ever have underground parking, regardless of where we constructed
- the hotel, because they never knew what they would find once they did the soil borings. And so there
- was never a guarantee for underground parking. So the options become above-grade structure parking or
- surface parking, and what's the availability of surface parking? So I don't know if I'm being very responsive
- to your question, but I think, and obviously,
- underground parking adds to the expense of the project. And I think Mr. Doar has said to us that what
- they're proposing right now does not include a response to the parking issue. So it's all things I think
- we're going to need to talk about as we further evaluate this. But we're really to the point where the
- RDC has made clear to us
- their continued interest in recovering the purchase price of the Bunger Robertson property. That's a
- public policy decision. That's certainly their right to make that decision, and they've made it. In
- my opinion, that takes the hotel going on the Bunger Robertson property off the table. There's not a
- hotel developer in the world who's going to give the RDC $7 million for the Bunger Robertson property
- and build on it. That leaves
- to us what we do have access to. And that's South and West, which is all we can offer in an RFP. And
- then we will have to deal then with what that means for parking as we proceed. But offering South and
- West are the only options we have, other than to say we don't have an opportunity to move forward with
- a host hotel. Yes, Mr. Baer. Just to reiterate,
- that there is a structural difference between the North property and the South and West parcels, and
- that the South and West parcels were already agreed to by the stakeholders of the interlocal agreement
- as parcels that have been identified as given to the CIB for purposes of the Convention Center
- and or a related hotel, whereas the North parcel was not titled or envisioned in the exact same way.
- So it's just important for the public to know that we see those as a different deal, if you will, that
- the South and the West have already been committed to this project. The North was never fully committed
- to this project. And so certainly it is, I think, the hope of the CIB that if we move forward with the
- South or West site, that land transfer happens nearly immediately and without delay or condition.
- Also, I just wanted to, just as a point of inquiry, if Talisha is there or somebody else associated
- with the Invention Center, how often south or west is actually used as surface overflow parking today?
- Well, I don't think... Yeah, Lisa, somebody, if you know the answer to that question. So for... Done?
- Okay, there we go.
- So for the larger public events, such as the handmade market, for example, every space is taken and
- there are people parking in the fourth street garage. So that is about a thousand person event and that
- is mostly local, but there are vendors who come in and stay overnight. But we do have other large events
- that will fill up the entire lot and the West lot. In such instances, Talisha has contacted the county
- and ask them not to park their vehicles in the West Lot. Did I answer the question? Yeah. Thank you.
- Thank you. You know, I think another issue as we move this along for examination is the Courtyard by
- Marriott's use of that South Lot for parking for their guests and what changes may need to be made in
- regard to that as well. So the Courtyard by Marriott may need to be looking at
- where else they park their gas that is in that South parking lot. If we run into those kinds of parking
- issues. I think we have, I think we started to discussing, we've got, we have a motion on the floor.
- Do we? Yeah, it's been motioned and seconded. Okay. And we've had discussion. So do we have any more
- discussion about the, the, the motion to,
- To approve the RFP. Approve the revised RFP. RFP, but not engineer. Yes. So unless there's other discussion
- or questions, please take the roll. Yes. John Weichart. Yes. Doug Bruce. Yes. Jim Silberstein. Yes.
- Joyce Poehling. Yes. Galen Cassidy. Yes. Thank you. Item 14, old business. Old business to be brought
- before the board.
- Hearing none, any new business to be brought before the board? I've already mentioned the request for
- the land transfer, which I was going to report on in a new business, but I've already mentioned it.
- Any other new business from board members? Item 16 or 17, comments from the public. Anybody from the
- public have comments that they wish to make? If so, you have a two-minute time limit to make those comments?
- See any from those present? Anybody online asking? All right. Next board meeting is actually a special
- meeting on February 5th at 3 p.m. Special meeting related to the proposal from Dora Hospitality. And
- then our next regular board meeting is February 18th, 2026 at 3 p.m. I failed to wish all of you a Happy
- New Year, so I'll do that now. I failed also to mention
- that it's been 140 years since we won a national football championship. Actually, we never won a national
- football championship. So let me mention we've won a national football championship for the record.
- I want to see it in the minutes. And with that, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.
- And we are adjourned.