Published: January 08, 2009 09:59 am      

Questions remain for Jeffersonville convention center

Mayor Tom Galligan still remembers a struggling Jeffersonville downtown.

During his first term in office — back in the 1990s — you could park your car on a downtown street and not see another vehicle for hours, he said.

“The general consensus of a lot of people was to bulldoze downtown and start all over again,” Galligan noted.

But he never agreed with that logic. And he said the problems of the past have now been reversed to a degree.

“This year when we opened the [downtown Sheraton] we had a parking problem and a lawsuit over it,” he noted.

Galligan spoke Wednesday about one particular way in which the city could continue that revitalization: The construction of a downtown convention center.

The mayor’s comments were made during an event that was as much a press conference as it was a briefing for city officials and others interested in the project.

“What we’re doing is systematically going through the process,” he said. “The key is not just building it but making it successful.”

Galligan’s administration released a feasibility study of a downtown convention center last summer.

The study advised the city to consider using a mix of public and private dollars to construct an approximately $100 million complex.

A 125,000-square-foot convention center — along with a 275-room hotel and a 1,000-vehicle parking garage — were included in the recommendation.

The release of that study was step one, said Robin Hunden, whose Chicago-based company Hunden Strategic Partners helped with the study. Memphis-based consultants, Pinkowski & Co., also were involved.

The next step is to figure out specifics of how much it will cost and where it should go, Hunden said. A concept design will have to be introduced, the economic and employment impact will have to be measured and they’ll have to figure out how to pay for it, he said.

It would likely be about three months before those questions are answered. Wednesday’s briefing was the kickoff of that phase of the analysis.

The idea of a small town with a convention center, sitting just outside of a big city, is not a new one, Hunden said.

He pointed to Overland Park, outside of Kansas City; St. Charles, outside of St. Louis; and Covington, outside of Cincinnati, as examples.

Currently, he said, the Louisville Metro Area has no convention center like the one being proposed in Jeffersonville.

The Kentucky International Convention Center is an old and tired structure, he said. And the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center is massive — more fitting of trade shows than conventions.

Jeffersonville would need about four acres for a convention center and two acres for a hotel, Hunden said.

Between $39 million and $44 million would need to be invested in a convention center, and an investment between $48 million and $55 million would be needed for a hotel.

It also would need to be located near walkable amenities, such as restaurants, shops and other hotels.

Two main sites have been identified: One at the corner of Spring Street and Market Street, and the other near the corner of Mulberry Street and Maple Street.

Galligan said no preference has been given to either site.

Competing with others

Galligan said that the proposal is not designed to compete with other area cities but to complement its amenities.

However, Clarksville officials have had their eyes on constructing a convention center as well.

A hotel and convention center was included in a concept plan recently commissioned for Clark’s Landing area, which includes the now-shuttered Colgate plant and areas to the south.

Hunden said if Clarksville were to build a convention center, it would likely directly compete with Jeffersonville’s proposal.

Clarksville Redevelopment Director Rick Dickman, who’s at the helm of Clarksville’s plans of the Clark’s Landing area, said the town is not interested in competing with Jeffersonville.

“The convention center is absolutely, positively needed in Clark County,” Dickman said in a telephone interview after the briefing.

Right now, neither municipality has a place that can handle more than a 300-person convention.

The crux of the discussion comes down to funding, Dickman said. And Clarksville — like Jeffersonville — has no investor ready to spend money on it.

There’s also a question about time. Galligan and the city’s annexation coordinator Rick Lovin said Jeffersonville’s proposal was a priority, though no timetable has been set.

Dickman said Clark’s Landing would take between 13 and 15 years to completely develop. However, the hotel and convention center part of it would likely be one of the earliest additions.

“My position has not changed. We need a convention center,” said Jim Keith, executive director of the Clark-Floyd County Tourism and Convention Bureau.

As to which municipality builds it, Keith said, “I try my best to stay out of that part of the discussion.”