Title
Recommendation to Make City-Owned Lot 10 Available for Development (NB)
Explanation
In April 2010, the CRA issued a Request for Information for a publicly owned conference center/hotel in order for the CRA to respond to Alachua County’s (the County) Request for Proposals for “Capital Projects that Promote Tourism.” The proposed development required this funding source to achieve financial feasibility and was envisioned as a publicly-owned, multi-level conference center with highly flexible space, and a privately-owned, full service hotel with the potential for street-level retail. The project submitted by the CRA was not chosen for award by the County.
Since that time, there had been continued interest in a hotel and conference center in Gainesville’s urban core. At the September 19, 2011 CRA Board meeting, information regarding the financial analysis for an unsolicited proposal was presented to the CRA Board by City Budget and Finance staff. Following the presentation, CRA staff was then requested to draft language for a competitive solicitation for a hotel and conference center to be located on either the City-owned Lot 10 parcel or elsewhere in or near Gainesville’s downtown.
A solicitation process was authorized by the City Commission on February 2, 2012. A multi-step Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) was jointly issued by the City and the CRA on February 29, 2012. The ITN was structured in two phases. The first phase requested the qualifications of developers demonstrating successful completion of similar projects elsewhere, a description of the development team composition, as well as a general description of any CRA or City financial assistance that would be sought for the project. This information was sought in order for the City and CRA to gain an understanding of the financial assistance needed for such a project.
A total of two responses to the first phase were received from Acquest Realty Advisors, Inc. and Gainesville Hotel...
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