by Matt Marquardt –
Why I never believed that a Hilton Hotel is coming to downtown Mason City… read this and tell me where I am wrong:
First of all, the parking lot is full, all day long. There is very little parking, and removing this parking lot where City Hall employees park and employees of nearby businesses park is puzzling. You add up to 96 customers’ cars (1 car for each room) PLUS hotel employees, PLUS employees and shoppers for proposed new stores that come with the development? How can this work?
Then, you must ask yourself, where was Mr. Chodur from San Diego? A project like this would cost, what, $30 Million or more? And he was too booked up to come to our City Council meeting where the deal hung in the balance? He sent his brother, a one man realtor show, and the attorney from around the corner, Jackie Aurthur, to “close” the deal? I was at that council meeting, and something smelled bad the minute I walked in. It didn’t add up.
Then, you must consider that in Mason City, we are at 52% occupancy with our current hotel lineup. The Park Inn is routinely mostly empty. Sorry but it’s true. I am told 50% occupancy is break-even. So we are talking about a razor-thin profit margin in Mason City. Now we would add 96 rooms? What company thinks there is money to be made in this venture? Hilton, as I understand it, doesn’t even build in towns as small as Mason City.
Finally, you can take into consideration if you want that this is a heated election. Our council and mayor are comprised of liars (minus John Lee). What would look better than to bamboozle the people of Mason City with a made-up big hotel story set to be constructed in downtown Mason City? You bring in the king of liars, John Skipper to write the story. You have a low-ranking hourly attorney come to the council meeting with the “developer’s brother” to make it look official. The mayor and council then hand to the developer – after a lot of backslapping and congratulations – an exclusive right to negotiate the future of this FULL parking lot. There was no discussion on bids or allowing others a chance to have a shot at it, by the way. That in itself could be unlawful. Public property has to be opened for bidding to the PUBLIC before it can be sold. That did not happen here.
The deal doesn’t pass the “smell” test and I’m not buying it, sorry, and most people in Mason City are too smart to be fooled by this mayor and council, which is why they are not buying it, either.
I wonder why people leaving comments on this site don’t put their own names, what are they afraid of? Put your names as the one commenting, Don’t hide behind any fake names. Just sayin. I hope no one is afraid of the current Mayor and Council.
I posted this before but Matt deleted it and I don’t know why ,but here it goes again. On the surface this hotel doesn’t make any sense BUT if someone told me 3 months ago that we would have another Mexican restaurant in this town I would have said you were crazy BUT now we have Pancheros. Who would have thunk. Crazier things have happened. Please Mr. Free speech do not delete this.
The only hotel coming to Mason City via Bookmeyer and council is the Bates Motel. Rooms for Bookmeyer and council.
The bottom line is, downtown Mason City is dead, and it died the minute they decided to build that gigantic paper weight that is the mall. The only thing that’s going to be built in downtown Mason City are pet projects the current crop government officials somehow profit off of, period.
Second time to show yourself as the true Dick you are. Ken Kew was a good mayor. For you to laugh about him losing an eye is below the belt.
Bricks for brains is back under a new name.
Also remember the key to their multipurpose center is a downtown hotel which they can make us be part owners of so they can gain revenue for their boat anchor project. Look to all angles with this bunch of dishonest crooks being steered by the city drunk.
I wish everyone left comments like this one. Haha. Thanks Pete!
If anyone know someone that really believes this hotel is coming to Mason City, let me know…i have a bridge that I need to sell immediately. I will sell it REALLY cheap as I need the funds for my Skiing trip to the Sahara.
Thanks.
unless I missed it, has anyone just thought of contacting the Hilton Corp and asking them?
Hy don’t you? It is your Idea but you have no mojo.
Currently Mason City’s economy is split among a long establish and ingrained group of businesses. They don’t want their economic applecart upset.
With new polices, directives, and guidelines that promote long term meaningful growth, new money will come to the area. This is long overdue.
For decades Mason City has been pumping money into our local economy with tax subsidized projects. That is what keeps our local cash flowing. That cycle has to stop and new money brought to keep the cash flowing in the North Iowa area. That can only be accomplished through growth.
If you want to see an example of what I am talking about go to Mankato, Minnesota. There development polices are totally opposite than those of Mason City’s and Mankato is booming!
I am hoping those of you that are closed minded will open up to a new direction and make the change at City Hall to start a new.
@Hacker
I understand you want to know what would be done different with Weaver as Mayor and Marquardt, Foster, and Draper in office. While that question is a good one you much first remove the cancer that would allow the discussion to develop those ideas in the first place.
To continue to beat the drum of Downtown Development, Hotels, Civic Centers, etc. which is always subsidized by the taxpayers are outdated and worn out. They have no merit, at all.
There is so much we could do to re-build this torn up city. But first we much remove the obstacles to begin a new era of economic growth and opportunity.
First and foremost we mush not allow the North Iowa Area Manufacturers Ass. to dominate the discussion. They have worked diligently behind the scenes for decades to keep good paying jobs and growth out of Mason City so they don’t have to compete for labor by paying higher wages.
Second we must convince the Chamber that we are going to put the policies in place that will allow meaningful growth over the long term.
The Chamber, EDC, North Iowa Corridor all have to realize that the future lies in a new direction with the focus on more meaningful jobs. Not the retail push we have seen in the last 40 years.
Once polices are put in place with a new Comprehensive Plan that allows growth with planning for the infrastructure to support that the next 40 years will bring a expanded and vibrant Mason City.
None of this can happen unless the current group of politicians are swept out and new forward thinkers put in office that will start the discussion.
There is the positive for you and this community.
First things first, we have to have new leadership that will stand firm against the status quo!
Why would Hilton want to build a Hotel downtown in a dying city like Mason City?I can not see it.I just do not understand why people are thinking this is gonna to happen.If it was to happen,the hotel will not last 2 years before it is sold and made into a Jim-Bob’s self named hotel.There is NO reason for this.
Do ya all realize that our Government is playing Monopoly with our tax dollars?
Where have all the honest people gone?
Another Hotel downtown will take business from the Park Inn. Then the city will be giving money to the Park Inn to keep it afloat. Where do these guys get their ideas? The common sense man on the street can think better than our so called leaders. It is frightening to wonder what they will come up with next.
The mayor and the council should be tarred and feathered, then run out of town. No more talk about it. I wonder if charges could stem from this?
The last time a Hilton was built where it shouldn’t have been was in a little New Mexico town called San Antonio (which is close to Socorro and about 90 miles south of Albuquerque. It also happened to be the “first” which was a few rooms above a bar.
Just recently Hilton called it quits with a leased property in Florida that was making a nice return…so who in their right mind would believe they would build in Mason City.
As for downtown, it hasn’t been the same since the ’60s with the destruction of the old courthouse and then the buildings along main street to make room for the mall. From that point on MC has been a second class town and was saved by Indianhead and other MacNider properties.
Good luck!
I agree that Mason City was ruined when they closed off Federal to 2-way traffic. It became a pain in the butt to come here to shop and I started going to other towns. MC lost a lot of nice stores like Buttrey’s, Stevenson’s, Damon’s, and the big Bergo’s store when traffic and parking were cut off. All the big box stores came in on the edge of town and that made the mall and the downtown area less than attractive as a place to locate. It would have made so much more sense to tear down some of those old buildings and put in a few more parking lots and/or some nice storefronts that were easily accessible.
Bogus
Outrageous
Outdated
Krook
Mental
Egomaniac
Youth ONLY
Elite ONLY
Ridiculous
Get out of OUR TOWN Bookmeyer! And your little dogs too!
Just keeps getting better and better with our crooks doesn’t it?
Get ’em OUT!!! VOTE AGAINST !!!
Realist has it correct! The main reason a Hilton, or any other hotel is NOT coming to Mason City, is because their is NO NEED FOR ONE. Who or why would anybody want to make Mason City a destination?
This story has been laughable since it first broke. Besides parking, a quick feasibility assessment makes you wonder what need that property would be fulfilling. I would love nothing more than to see downtown Mason redeveloped, but this project doesn’t make sense. Generally speaking, hotels and other lodging are developed to meet the needs of conferences, expo’s, fairs, conventions, sporting events, and other events that draw large crowds. Mason City isn’t exactly a hub for these types of events. Sure, the argument could be made that having the infrastructure there first would help draw. To that I ask where are these glorious events going to be held? The palatial North Iowa Events Center? The 200-person-capacity ballroom at the Clarion Inn? Next someone will say they are going to develop a multi-use civic center downtown and we need the rooms to hold the droves of people that will be coming. It’s a pipedream. Downtown Mason City has very little draw appeal to developers. And retail space? Let’s try to fill up the Southbridge mall before we start filling in what little parking there is downtown with more empty buildings.
We all want to see good things for all of Mason City. Downtown, North End, Midland Heights, west, east. All. But we must never mislead the people nor fool them nor trick them. This hotel farce is shameful when you stop and look closely and realize how elaborate this lie had to be to get as far as it did. The media was involved, downtown business people, City Hall, including elected officials and possibly staff like Brent Trout. The fiasco must end and we all must face the bottom line that Mason City needs help, it needs inclusion of all the people, not just a few. The battle has only just begun. These people will not give in easy; we are talking about a system that has enriched the chosen few at the expense of the poor, elderly, the uninformed. They have been steamrolled by the chamber, the edc, the big landowners like MacNider. How do you explain placing NIACC in a cornfield two miles out of town? A mall on top of a highway? A casino that was lost to a little town 20 miles north? A Target Distribution Center lost 14 years ago to Cedar Falls? An outdoor shopping center called Indianhead that is sucking the life out of main street? The mistakes will continue if this system is not obliterated and re-built with the eye of the public involved.
Exactly what good things are you proposing. all is see is your recap of things you consider gone bad.
Go ahead speak your mind but be specific with real discussion points on what needs to be done.real leadership offers solutions not just complaints or criticism.
I’ve said before, and I’ll say it now: The cancer that is the EDC and the Chamber must be removed from City Hall. Only then can healthy economic growth take place. Those two agencies exert too much control and power. I want a City Administrator who is not sold out to those agencies who knows he/she works for the council and mayor and not the “elite.” The CA would then control our Development Services Department and work with the EDC as an agent of the council and mayor, taking their direction in policy. Once the proper direction is set, good policies can be implemented. For example, we may not lose the next Target Distribution Center if the Chamber and EDC are not our first line of “offense” in recruiting it or closing the deal. I would rather empower our own trusted employees (experts) who are paid good salaries to do that job versus these “public-private” entities that may have ulterior motives.
I never did believe it and thought all the time it was a scam to try to make the voters and taxpayers believe they had accomplished something. On this alone they should be thrown out.
Skipper is just another pimple on beermeyers butt. How can someone that has been in Mason City as long as skipper write these bogus stories for a major that is a fricken drunk. Otis Cambell had more common sense than our drunken mayor, At least he knew when to go to bed after a drunkin stuper. Skipper you big dumb kiss ass time to retire when ole bookie gets booted out of office. Cya
Incredible. Just, wow. I never stopped to think about this. Everyone at work is asking about the new hotel! And now this! Wow!
You are right on the money with your analogy. It was a somke screen from the start trying to fool the people into think these people were doing great things, think again.