Trustees consider hotel

The IU Board of Trustees is looking at purchasing a 278-room University Place Hotel at IU-Purdue University-Indianapolis for $17.5 million and then renovating the facility for an additional $12 million.\nThe hotel was built in 1987 by a private company and the conference center, a part of the hotel, was built by IU. The facilities of the hotel have not been renovated in eight years, and the occupancy rates have dropped to below 55 percent. IUPUI Vice Chancellor for administration and finance Robert Martin said it is the right time to acquire the hotel especially because IU already owns the conference center and the current owners want to sell.\nMartin said IU's joint efforts during the years have been to attract conferences that are University-related, corporate clients, clinical programs offered by the Clarian hospitals related to cancer care and research, family visitors to the campus and athletic events hosted by both Indianapolis and the IUPUI campus.\nThe conferences held at the IUPUI campus serve as a source of income and as a way to help bring academic prestige to the campus.\nIU trustee Sue Talbot said the conferences are a great way to bring some of the best scholars, businessmen and elected officials to the campus, which allows for the faculty and administration to have a greater dialogue with these powerful people. \nPast conferences at IUPUI have focused on many business and health issues, since the IUPUI campus boasts both the IU School of Medicine and part of the Kelley School of Business.\nBut to be able to attract such high-profile conferences, Talbot admits the facilities need to be high-tech and professional.\n"In order to maintain a first class facility, it is important to have professional conference personnel who can understand the needs of an organization and equip the conference and attendees with the appropriate needs," Talbot said. "Many organizations want to be on campus so that they can take advantage of the resources provided by our outstanding faculty and other facilities."\nThe renovated hotel will be also beneficial because it will be used to house cancer patients while they receive treatments from the experts at IU's medical facilities.\n"Perhaps that alone is reason enough to want the hotel to be first class and to provide more than adequate housing," Talbot said.\nMartin added the hotel makes for a prime spot for these patients because it is in the middle of the campus. The hotel will also continue to serve visiting students, guests of the University and regular patrons, such as students' parents.\nIU will initially use money loaned from the IU renovation to finance this project, IU trustee Patrick Shoulders said. He said the trustees are close to closing the deal, which means IU could have ownership within the next 30 days.\nShoulders went on to say the University is looking to sell bonds for the hotel to pay back the funds from the IU Foundation. Investors who purchase these bonds will be able to receive their money back with interest after a certain amount of time. The only problem is that IU needs to receive approval from the Indiana State Legislature before they can sell these bonds and the General Assembly won't reconvene until January. In the meantime, the renovation will proceed, one part of the hotel at a time.\nAlthough the University may have to borrow money to fund such an endeavor, Shoulders said he thinks the investment will pay off for IU in the long run.\n"The hotel has really been mismanaged and the owners really want to sell, so we think the hotel would be a lot more profitable if we ran it," he said. "It's really just a smart move economically and it should benefit IUPUI tremendously."\n-- Contact Weekend editor Adam Aasen at aaasen@indiana.edu .