The Corvallis Riverfront Hotel

09/18/2014

Friends......
It is with no small regret that we are posting to inform you that we have sold the riverfront hotel property and will not be building a hotel.

The buyer, ironically the owner of two other hotels in Corvallis, has indicated they would like to build a hotel on the site, someday, but do not plan on building a public parking garage.

As we look back on our failed attempt to work with the City to structure an acceptable proposal, we reflect on some of the major issues we faced with our project. While there were a number of challenges, we keep coming back to the GT's misrepresentation of "secret meetings" with the City Council. Their articles implied we had multiple secret meetings with the City Council and this simply was not true. Their statements created such a negative atmosphere for the proposal that the City Council seemed to be forever on the defensive. Even though the GT ultimately endorsed our proposal, the negative impression they created could not be overcome. The GT needs to realize the impact their words have on the community. They set the tone for the community's reaction, and while this may not have been the only reason our proposal ultimately failed, we believe it had a major impact.....and that's a shame.

As citizens of Corvallis we are disappointed that we were not able to help address what is a growing parking problem in downtown Corvallis. Like us, many people think a downtown parking garage as part of a private / public venture, was a good idea and would have worked well. Additional parking downtown is absolutely necessary. It will surely happen sometime in the future, but it might be sometime before a proposal is put forth that costs the City so little and would have benefited the downtown area so much.

We would also like to compliment the City staff who did a great job of protecting the City's interest when working with us. Staff was always working to minimize the City's risk and costs and to maximize the benefit to the citizens of Corvallis. While Council voted against staff recommendations, we feel staff did excellent work and should be commended.

Lastly while good honest debate is welcomed when a project like this is proposed, too often conversations about projects break down into name calling and false accusations. Let us all remember to be thoughtful and respectful of others' opinions even if we disagree

We wish the new owners of the site well in their pursuits.

Thank you for all of your support.

The Corvallis Riverfront Hotel Group

07/09/2014

A quick thanks to everyone who has supported our project. ...and thanks to our critics as well. While we don't always agree with you, your input has been very helpful. While we are obviously disappointed with the City Council's decision Monday, we can say, without hesitation.....it's not over. Look for updates in the coming weeks.....thanks again

07/01/2014

Friends
Our competition has entered the debate on the hotel. Today we learned of a letter sent to the City Council from the Hotel Group, owners of the Hilton Garden Inn and Holiday Inn Express. Shortly we'll post the letter on our website. In summary the Hotel Group, which includes three members of our community, Jack Cooper, Rand Cooper and Vern McDonald, as well as Jackson Cooper, formerly of Corvallis. suggest ....in the four page letter......that
our hotel will be bad for their business. The letter attempts to persuade the City Council to beware of another hotel, using outlandish assumptions, inaccurate representations and straight falsehoods, but what they are really saying is....... "we don't want competition". The Hotel Group has enjoyed over 10 years of essentially no competition in this community. They have been able to charge what they want, when they want, and have a virtual lock on university business. Is this good for Corvallis? It's telling that no one, not one person from the Hotel Group, has contacted us or
attended any of the public meetings. Folks, it's time for a change and this letter more than anything we've written or proposed, endorses the need for a new hotel in Corvallis. We urge you to publicly support our project. Come out and say something. Give the City Council your feedback. We believe they want to do this project but can be influenced, as anyone can, by this kind
of political stunt. Next Monday is quickly approaching and the City Council and the GT need to hear from you. We appreciate your support.

06/24/2014

Do you read the Gazette Times? If you do, you likely read the "letters to the editor" section of the paper. Recently the volume of letters about the hotel has increased. We appreciate and respect your opinion.....while we recognize it's difficult to make your opinions known publicly, these letters are important and we listen to what's said. Please take a minute and write into the GT. Let everyone know how you feel....thanks

06/24/2014

On July 7th the Corvallis City Council is likely to vote on our project. At stake is simply whether the hotel will be built or not. Between now and then your City Council needs to hear from you. Please write your Ward Councilor.....this is a link to their respective email addresses.
http://www.corvallisoregon.gov/index.aspx?page=65
Many of you have indicated you support this project. Please voice your opinion. Let the City Council know how you feel, this is an important project for Corvallis ....thanks...

Email communication with the Mayor and City Council is stored in Web archives by subject and by date: Ward 1 Email Archive [ by subject ][ by date ]Ward 2 Email Archive [ by subject ][ by date ]Ward 3 Email Archive [ by subject ][ by date ]Ward 4 Email Archive [ by subject ][ by date ]Ward 5 Email A…

06/17/2014

it was a long night...... The City Council decided last night to postpone a vote on our proposal until the next City Council meeting scheduled for July 7th. While we were disappointed, a lot of good ideas were exchanged last night and we are very appreciative of the public's input. As always we are open to the exchange of ideas. If you have issues with our proposal, please use this page as a means of expressing your thoughts or contact us directly.

06/16/2014

The Corvallis City Council will be discussing and hopefully voting on our project this evening. Please attend the Council meeting at 6:30pm at the downtown fire station.

06/12/2014

We wanted to thank all of you who attended the public meeting last night at the Vue. Very good conversation and excellent questions. While we may not all agree, this kind of dialogue is what makes for a vibrant community.

06/08/2014

A handful of individuals and the local newspaper have stated that the city should have made the proposed plan for the hotel/parking garage public last September. I would like to give our perspective on that.
Last summer we had the idea of doing a hotel/parking garage and considered the possibility of partnering with the city on it (It is actually relatively common). We approached the city staff and asked if there was any interest and they presented it to the city council during executive session. (Normally called a closed meeting not a “secret meeting”. The public can’t attend them, but a newspaper reporter attends those meetings). They said yes, “look into it.” Making the idea public at that point would not have been constructive- neither us or city staff would have had any answers to questions you would expect to hear- who is responsible to build it? How much would it cost? Who would maintain it? How many parking spaces would be available? We were just beginning to piece together a proposal.
Over the next several months we put together a more complete plan, solicited preliminary cost figures, talked to banks to see if it could be financed, figured out practical ways to manage the parking garage, figured out how to reduce risk to the city and had our attorney work with the city attorney to draft a set of documents that reflected what was possible. As a fellow citizen, I was pleased to see the extra effort staff puts in to get a good deal for its citizens. Whenever possible the city shifted the risk to the developer, minimized the cities continued maintenance and support costs and make a better deal for the community. It is unrealistic to think that those kinds of communications should have been happening with public input at every turn. It is just not practical. This is what the community hires a city government do for them. As soon as we had something that we were both comfortable with, it was presented to the city council and they immediately opened it up to the public.
Some may wish to debate whether the City of Corvallis should do any public-private partnerships, but the handling of this project was totally above board, and handled properly. Every city has its staff perform due diligence and prepare documents before presenting a proposal to the city council for approval, and when it involves a real-estate transaction they are always first discussed in Executive Session.
A downtown hotel and a parking garage was included in the community’s Vision 20/20 plan many years ago. It just needed an innovative way to make it feasible. The community should be proud of the fact that their city government was able to come up with a way to accomplish the community’s long term plan and do it in a very cost effective way.

06/07/2014

We are hosting a public meeting at 5:30 next Wednesday at the Vue downtown. We'll be available to answer any questions or concerns.

06/06/2014

Our new website is up and running. We've posted the financial sensitivity analysis and our feasibility study. Take a look.... Our website address is...www.corvallisriverfronthotel.com

06/05/2014

the financial sensitivity analysis posted here yesterday, is now available for review on the City of Corvallis' website. This is a link to the analysis http://www.corvallisoregon.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=8162