Published: June 18, 2008 06:51 pm      

EEDA receives proposals for feasibility study

EDMOND — Acquest Realty Advisors Inc. submitted three companies for consideration to the Edmond Economic Development Authority this week to potentially create a hotel feasibility study.

The EEDA Board of Trustees and Edmond City Council received the confidential report Tuesday, of which a summary was released at the board’s monthly meeting. The board plans to spend not more than $28,000 for the study and will decide which of the three companies to use at its July board meeting. The three companies under consideration were not named.

Mary Ann Karns, EEDA vice chairwoman, said a market analysis was done three years ago by KPMG to see if the city could support a conference center. She said the consensus was that a hotel needed to go with it. KPMG also completed a site and financial analysis of where a conference center should be built and how the city might pay for it.

Acquest was hired in December to evaluate development of a hotel/conference center in Edmond. In the summary of its report, they recommended the city select and engage a hotel feasibility study consultant.

Karns said the feasibility study would give board members a variety of information, including a detail market analysis, an estimate of the financial performance of a hotel acting alone and an estimate of a hotel being managed along with a conference center.

“The funding mechanism on this is incredibly important,” said Janet Yowell, EEDA executive director. “This report will have a whole lot of information we haven’t had before.”

Karns said many inquiries already have been made by different hotels about the project.

“This would provide hotel providers with information they need to make a decision,” she said of having a feasibility study.

Edmond does not currently have a full-service hotel that serves three meals a day, has a lounge area and provides room service, Karns said. Local businesses that bring people into Edmond have to send them to Oklahoma City for a full-service hotel.

Karns said one option being considered is for the City of Edmond to own the conference center and lease it out to the hotel.

“If you look at any nice in-service hotel, it has a conference center,” she said. “It’s a really important economic development tool.”

A city-owned conference center would provide the city with a place for large events and increase events, Karns said.

Acquest also recommended in the summary of its report that the city pursue and attempt to document specific terms and conditions for the acquisition of 15 to 20 acres of land directly accessible off Covell, 15th Street or the I-35 service drive and adequate signage rights at both prospective properties.