By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
Kent officials and potential development investors believe the third time could be the charm for construction of a downtown hotel and conference center.
Twice since 1995, area leaders have pushed for the development of a hotel to serve the needs of Kent businesses and help stimulate the local economy. The second proposal lost ground in 2001 despite a favorable study released the previous year showing such an endeavor could prove profitable.
This year began with comments in February from Kent Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors President Dennis Missimi, who echoed a statement made in 2000 by former Kent City Manager Lew Steinbrecher, when he said this year marks the best opportunity for a successful hotel and conference facility.
Now, Fairmount Properties, which currently is planning to redevelop the three-acre block bordered by Haymaker Parkway and South DePeyster, Erie and Water streets, is in the middle of a study similar in purpose to the one conducted in 2000 to determine the need and feasibility of building a new downtown hotel and conference center.
Randy Ruttenberg, a principle partner in Fairmount Properties, said his firm has spent the past several weeks working in conjunction with hotel developer Omni Hospitality and Pizzuti Companies to assess the viability and size for a downtown hotel.
"We absolutely believe the hotel is not (only) an important component to what we're looking to create, but that there is a huge void in the market for a hospitality facility that caters to Kent State University, the local business community and the general traveler," Ruttenberg said. "Early indications appear positive, however, until the study is completed, which we anticipate will happen by early August, it would be too early to comment."
The operation would be privately owned, Ruttenberg said.
Kent Economic Development Director Dan Smith said the easy part is determining how many rooms per night KSU and local businesses could fill.
"The hard part is to say what becomes a possibility with this type of facility," Smith said. A hotel and conference center could support expanded area sporting events, academic conferences and events at the university. "All those things open up if you have that type of facility here in the city of Kent."
Kent City Manager David Ruller said the city has held informal discussions with some of its biggest corporations, including The Davey Tree Expert Co. and Ametek, about their need for hotel space.
"It was remarkably high," Ruller said.
Yet hotels in the city have a less than successful history.
The University Inn on South Water Street has evolved into a licensed boarding facility with long-term rentals since opening more than 35 years ago. The now vacant Inn of Kent at 303 E. Main St. eventually converted into the Campus View Apartments.
The most obvious, and perhaps dramatic, hotel failure story comes from the Franklin Hotel, which today is known as the old Kent hotel. In October 1929, then manager Fred Altendorf told a meeting of Kent Rotary he had invested and lost $20,000 in the hotel. The Kent Tribune reported Altendorf burst into tears and left the meeting with half the rotary members sobbing over the hotel's failure.
Gradually the hotel began renting rooms as apartments to university students before its eventual residential dormancy beginning in the 1970s.
Smith is confident a new hotel and conference center would not only provide rooms for area businesses but also would serve as a successful catalyst for private events to encourage economic activity.
"KSU being the third largest university (in Ohio), it's unusual that we don't have a hotel conference facility," Smith said. "I think the university will be a main driver, but then you'll also have, too, the general kinds of leisure and heritage tourism I think would be big if we could secure a hotel."