VIRGINIA BEACH
Armada Hoffler, one of four bidders to build a headquarters hotel for the Virginia Beach Convention Center, may get a practice run.
In Baton Rouge, La.
The Virginia Beach developer is working with East Baton Rouge Parish to build two hotels for $99.3 million. The plan, which still needs approval from Baton Rouge politicians, and then voters in the fall, is part of a $989 million public works initiative.
Armada Hoffler is involved only in the hotel portion of the project. One of the buildings would be attached to the River Center, Baton Rouge's convention hall. The other would be across the street, according to site plans.
Parish residents would pay $68.8 million for parking garages attached to each of the hotels, said Rannah Gray,
a spokeswoman for parish Mayor-President Kip Holden.
"They have great experience with convention center hotels," Gray said. "They come as a very respected partner."
The public-private partnership proposed in Baton Rouge is just what Armada Hoffler is proposing in Virginia Beach.
Here, Armada Hoffler and several partners have pitched building 700 hotel rooms in two towers, which would be built in phases. The project also calls for about 95,000 square feet of meeting space.
Lou Haddad, president of Armada Hoffler, said his company has the financial capacity to do projects in both Baton Rouge and Virginia Beach. The Baton Rouge timeline calls for that project to be ready in 2012.
Virginia Beach asked developers for their plans to build a headquarters hotel after discussions of how much business the Beach's convention center loses because it does not have an anchor inn for conventioneers.
Plans were submitted by Armada Hoffler; Garfield Traub Development, a Dallas firm working with Hyatt and the architects who designed the Convention Center; Harmony Hospitality, a local firm that operates the Doubletree Hotel on 19th Street; and Garrison Walker Financial LLC, a development newcomer to the Beach.
Rob Hudome, an economic development official in Virginia Beach, this week said city officials will hire a consultant to review the four plans.
The consultant will likely start work this summer, and a recommendation on which plan to choose could come before City Council early next year, Hudome said.
Haddad said neither Baton Rouge nor Virginia Beach can take full advantage of their convention space without the hotel.
In Baton Rouge, Gray said, the hotels and a proposed $75.5 million expansion of River Center would help the parish compete with destinations such as Shreveport, La., and Biloxi, Miss.
Virginia Beach's competitive convention markets
include Raleigh, N.C., and Louisville, Ky. Both markets have headquarters hotels.
"In order to maximize the investments that cities make in convention centers," Haddad said, "they have to have a headquarters hotel.
"If your goal is attract regional conventions, what we've seen from meeting planners around the country is, 'Where's the hotel?' "
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
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and
they have Casino gambling to fleece the tourists. Why don't we?....you can only sell them so many 4 dollar ice cream cones and 3/$10 T shirts..
And as we all know, Louisiana
Is probably the birthplace of crooked politics and politcians, so just about anything that comes of that neck of the woods is suspect. Guess our local pols want to be just like the Louisiana pols!
The other 3
I look forward to the forthcoming great articles touting the other 3 firms involved. I wonder how long I will have to wait . . .
huh?
Who wrote this article, Hofflers press agent or accountant?
let's be fair now!
Since we're going to be giving away some more of our tax dollars, it appears, to a developer in the "public/private partnership" spirit, let's give it to someone different this time. What do you say council? Lots of others are lined up at the trough you know, come on now.
What they don't tell you.
La. has a $7,500 homestead exemption and taxes are assessed on only 10 percent of the fair market value of the home. Re-assessments are done every four years not every year like here. In addition, voters must approve of tax increases or bond issuances. This is all carefully guarded in the state's Constitution. When coupled with a very low general tax rate, the Louisiana has the lowest real estate tax in the nation. Nearly 2/3rds of homeowners pay little annual tax, only for non-exempted municipal taxes of a couple hundred dollars. A 200,000 dollar home is only paying taxes on $12,500 of home value. Now compare that to your next mortgage statement. Don't be fooled by the local mantra of, "If it's good enough for Baton Rouge, it's good enough for us."