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.