Visit Frederick - the Tourism Council of Frederick County continues to strongly support the Downtown Hotel & Conference Center project. We respectfully request your support of the extension of the City's MOU with Plamondon Hospitality Partners as projects of this magnitude require a public-private partnership in order to proceed. As life returns to normal after the pandemic, there will be a pent up demand for facilities such as the proposed full service Marriott and continue to believe that this will be the next big "game changer" for the City of Frederick. - John Fieseler, Executive Director
On behalf of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, I reiterate our strongest support for the Downtown Hotel and Conference Center Project.
The Chamber has consistently and actively supported this next transformational project in the expansion of economic opportunity in The City of Frederick, and our position, despite the impacts of the global pandemic, remains the same.
We are convinced that this project will bring with it incredible long-term economic benefits, far beyond the most obvious benefits to the hotel developer.
We strongly endorse your extension of the MOU with The Plamondon Companies, and continue to pledge the support of our Board, our staff, and our membership in bringing this important project to fruition.
Respectfully,
Rick Weldon
President/CEO
The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce
118 North Market St, Suite 200
Frederick, MD 21701
Downtown Frederick Partnership strongly supports the continued efforts to make the Downtown Frederick Hotel and Conference Center a reality and urges support for this third amendment to the MOU. In a pre-pandemic world, the Partnership viewed this project as an important game changer for Downtown Frederick, creating a new economic generator to build on our positive momentum. Today, in a pandemic world, the Downtown Frederick Hotel and Conference Center is even more important as a way to create additional economic activity as we continue to support our many small businesses in Downtown Frederick and beyond.
Downtown hotels with significant meeting space throughout the country need to utilize public support to become a reality. The upfront costs are more significant in a downtown setting. The Partnership views the expanded meeting space as a key component of the economic impact of this proposal. This space will be used for events, family celebrations, business meetings and conferences. While online meetings will be reality going forward, there also will be a place for in person gatherings and the informal networking and learning that can happen at in person events. It is the expanded meeting space that will have a significant impact for the many small businesses that call Frederick home.
Again, the Partnership urges your support for this amendment. Thank you for your consideration, Kara Norman, Partnership Executive Director
Peter Samuel, Frederick
Dec 2015 the M&B did the first of these MOUs giving Plamondon an exclusive right to a City-owned site and taxpayer support for his downtown hotel project, providing 30 months to working up the details of a deal. They couldn’t get their act together in the time they'd all committed to. Another 18 months. That wasn’t enough. Then 6 months. Nah. Need another year. Still no deal. What started as 2-1/2 years to put a deal together has extended to 5-1/2 years. And now it is proposed to go to 8 years. Will that be enough?
Staff says 2.5 years is now needed for "hospitality markets to recover…” But business travel may never fully recover, since everyone is doing Zoom. We won’t know for a couple of years and until then there is no basis for projecting the business viability of this project, let alone finalizing a design, and putting financing in place. Give ‘em 4 years or dump it!
Why public funding? Pitch #1 was that the City would finance and own the conference center portion. Pitch #2 was that without public funding no hotel would be built downtown. But nearby the Visitation Academy is being rehabbed into a hotel -- no public-$s needed. Pitch #3 is that the City is funding 'public parking' under the hotel. But the plans provide for a max of 230 parking spaces (2 levels.) City zoning requires 1.25 spaces/room suggesting this 200-room hotel will need 250 parking spaces for its own guests. The basement parking is NOT public parking. It is hotel parking – normally on the developer's tab.
Please reject the proposed $150,000 grant. If Mr Plamondon doesn't see value to himself in paying for site carrying costs, design, due diligences etc, then he has no faith in the viability of this project. The $150k grant imposes no obligation on Plamondon. He remains as free as ever to walk away from this project. It buys nothing tangible for the citizens of this City. A year ago, City staff proposed an Amendment 3 (M&B Workshop Agenda Item 6, May 5, 2020) for c$140k to cover Plamondon's land carry costs. The Mayor and Board dropped it last year. The $150k now is a second go at milking City taxpayers. Consistent with their action last year you should reject it now.
Many better uses for the $150k -- a start on a N Market St deck (Carmack Jay site), design of rebuild of the Church St deck, Market/Patrick Street renovation for expanded sidewalk activity, downtown stormwater drainage enhancement… come to mind. Thank you.
Visit Frederick - the Tourism Council of Frederick County continues to strongly support the Downtown Hotel & Conference Center project. We respectfully request your support of the extension of the City's MOU with Plamondon Hospitality Partners as projects of this magnitude require a public-private partnership in order to proceed. As life returns to normal after the pandemic, there will be a pent up demand for facilities such as the proposed full service Marriott and continue to believe that this will be the next big "game changer" for the City of Frederick. - John Fieseler, Executive Director
Mayor O’Connor and Board Members,
On behalf of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, I reiterate our strongest support for the Downtown Hotel and Conference Center Project.
The Chamber has consistently and actively supported this next transformational project in the expansion of economic opportunity in The City of Frederick, and our position, despite the impacts of the global pandemic, remains the same.
We are convinced that this project will bring with it incredible long-term economic benefits, far beyond the most obvious benefits to the hotel developer.
We strongly endorse your extension of the MOU with The Plamondon Companies, and continue to pledge the support of our Board, our staff, and our membership in bringing this important project to fruition.
Respectfully,
Rick Weldon
President/CEO
The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce
118 North Market St, Suite 200
Frederick, MD 21701
Downtown Frederick Partnership strongly supports the continued efforts to make the Downtown Frederick Hotel and Conference Center a reality and urges support for this third amendment to the MOU. In a pre-pandemic world, the Partnership viewed this project as an important game changer for Downtown Frederick, creating a new economic generator to build on our positive momentum. Today, in a pandemic world, the Downtown Frederick Hotel and Conference Center is even more important as a way to create additional economic activity as we continue to support our many small businesses in Downtown Frederick and beyond.
Downtown hotels with significant meeting space throughout the country need to utilize public support to become a reality. The upfront costs are more significant in a downtown setting. The Partnership views the expanded meeting space as a key component of the economic impact of this proposal. This space will be used for events, family celebrations, business meetings and conferences. While online meetings will be reality going forward, there also will be a place for in person gatherings and the informal networking and learning that can happen at in person events. It is the expanded meeting space that will have a significant impact for the many small businesses that call Frederick home.
Again, the Partnership urges your support for this amendment. Thank you for your consideration, Kara Norman, Partnership Executive Director
Peter Samuel, Frederick
Dec 2015 the M&B did the first of these MOUs giving Plamondon an exclusive right to a City-owned site and taxpayer support for his downtown hotel project, providing 30 months to working up the details of a deal. They couldn’t get their act together in the time they'd all committed to. Another 18 months. That wasn’t enough. Then 6 months. Nah. Need another year. Still no deal. What started as 2-1/2 years to put a deal together has extended to 5-1/2 years. And now it is proposed to go to 8 years. Will that be enough?
Staff says 2.5 years is now needed for "hospitality markets to recover…” But business travel may never fully recover, since everyone is doing Zoom. We won’t know for a couple of years and until then there is no basis for projecting the business viability of this project, let alone finalizing a design, and putting financing in place. Give ‘em 4 years or dump it!
Why public funding? Pitch #1 was that the City would finance and own the conference center portion. Pitch #2 was that without public funding no hotel would be built downtown. But nearby the Visitation Academy is being rehabbed into a hotel -- no public-$s needed. Pitch #3 is that the City is funding 'public parking' under the hotel. But the plans provide for a max of 230 parking spaces (2 levels.) City zoning requires 1.25 spaces/room suggesting this 200-room hotel will need 250 parking spaces for its own guests. The basement parking is NOT public parking. It is hotel parking – normally on the developer's tab.
Please reject the proposed $150,000 grant. If Mr Plamondon doesn't see value to himself in paying for site carrying costs, design, due diligences etc, then he has no faith in the viability of this project. The $150k grant imposes no obligation on Plamondon. He remains as free as ever to walk away from this project. It buys nothing tangible for the citizens of this City. A year ago, City staff proposed an Amendment 3 (M&B Workshop Agenda Item 6, May 5, 2020) for c$140k to cover Plamondon's land carry costs. The Mayor and Board dropped it last year. The $150k now is a second go at milking City taxpayers. Consistent with their action last year you should reject it now.
Many better uses for the $150k -- a start on a N Market St deck (Carmack Jay site), design of rebuild of the Church St deck, Market/Patrick Street renovation for expanded sidewalk activity, downtown stormwater drainage enhancement… come to mind. Thank you.