Springfield hotel developer John Q. Hammons has asked the city of Springfield for an extension to build a convention center hotel until July 1, 2011, in
a May 24 letter responding to
a May 13 letter sent by the city.
Mike Brothers, the city’s co-public information officer, said Hammons' request could come up at a special council luncheon Wednesday. The item has not been added to the agenda, according to the city clerk's office.
“Frankly it may be something they don’t consider,” Brothers said. “Maybe they’ll have a different mind about it, I don’t know. When I read it, I didn’t see anything that looked radically different.”
The city’s letter, sent from City Manager Greg Burris and signed by Mayor Jim O’Neal, encourages Hammons to participate in any upcoming request for proposals that the city may initiate for an Expo Center hotel.
The city has the option to buy back the vacant 1.7-acre St. Louis Street parcel from Hammons for $1.
“While the city has the legal right to re-acquire the hotel site from me in exchange for payment of $1, we both know that is not the right thing to do under the circumstances,” Hammons said in the letter. “I assisted the city greatly by cooperating with the development of the BKD building and purchasing the Jordan Valley Car Park and the hotel site. As a result, I have been absorbing the operating losses associated with the Car Park and will continue to do so.”
Hammons’ letter cites his existing agreement with the city to build the hotel.
“If the city is truly interested only in the successful development of an Expo Center hotel on that site, there is no need to engage in a costly and time-consuming new request for proposal process,” Hammons’ letter states. “I have repeatedly requested an extension of the deadline to commence construction under our existing agreement.”
Hammons' letter states that the extension request is “a reasonable course of action.”[[In-content Ad]]
