New downtown hotel planned in Visalia

John Lindt 4:13 p.m. PDT July 17, 2015

After months of discussion, the Visalia City Council plans to issue a request for proposals to build a new hotel adjacent to the convention center in downtown.

The city would invite developers to bid on bringing in a major hotel name on city-owned property east of the convention center.

The agenda item will be heard Monday, when the council is expected to approve the plan.

“This RFP will attempt to solicit a hotel developer willing to: (1) purchase the 315 East Acequia property from the city at fair market value; and (2) work independently to develop a convention quality hotel complex carrying a strong hotel brand and utilizing a design approved by the city,” according to a staff report.

“Over the past year and a half, the city has received three inquiries (one written recently, one written some time ago but recently reaffirmed verbally, and one verbally) from hotel developers expressing interest in building a hotel in downtown Visalia.”

The idea is to boost convention center attendance with more over night rooms nearby to add to the 200 Marriott hotel rooms on the west side of the property.

“There seems to be lots of interest in hotels up and down the state,” said Mayor Steve Nelsen. “We want to see just what interest is out there in building another hotel downtown.”

“We’re not going to be the one who builds the hotel,” cautions councilman Warren Gubler. “It’s not going to be like the Radisson situation” many years ago, he said. Instead the deal will be market driven.

With construction of two new hotels in west Visalia pending “This seems like good time to test the market to see if we can get more overnight rooms in the downtown area,” Gubler said.

“We want a clean deal but we are not going to give away the property,” insists Nelsen.

The council is ready to offer land and the building now used by the city planning department as part of the deal. If a deal is done, the department would seek other space in town.

Nelsen says the cost of relocating staff will be figured into any offer on the land. There would also be a cost in demolishing the planning building, if necessary.

Councilman Greg Collins says he hopes any developer takes a look at the building to see if it can be utilized to build up 4 stories or so.

“It’s in a great location with a parking garage right across the street,” he added.

“If this works out, this will be good for all of downtown.”

Collins says convention center staff often say that “we sometimes miss out on some conventions because we don’t have enough nearby rooms.”

In addition, the city is in negotiation to buy the dental office owned by Dr. Mirviss on Mineral King Avenue that could be used for this idea or more convention center parking if talks are successful.

Earlier this year, the council completed negotiations with the new owners of the Marriott hotel to do a $5 million upgrade of their property to keep a high Marriott rating, offering use of the convention center facilities in certain circumstances. The Marriott is connected to the city convention center as would be the new proposed hotel.

Meanwhile, the city is upgrading the convention center, to the tune of $5.3 million this year.

Mayor Nelsen has in his mind a prestige name — like a Hilton or Sheraton — that would be a good choice — perhaps at least a 100-room facility.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/2015/07/17/new-downtown-hotel-planned-visalia/30322029/