Last updated on 2017-11-25
Ten years ago I suggested Madison’s Chamber of Commerce and Lake Area Improvement Corporation recruit developers to resurrect the Lake Park Hotel. A classy hotel and convention center right on Main Street could serve as an anchor for downtown revitalization.
Mustang Seeds president Terry Schultz and Sioux Falls plumbing exec Ronald Howe are taking me up on half of my proposal. In July they formed Madison Hospitality Group LLC to bring a new hotel and convention center to town. Alas, instead of looking for some downtown synergy, Schultz and Howe have bought land in the Lakeview Industrial Park, out amidst the factories and the tractor shop at the edge of town on Highway 34. The only visitor amenity within walking distance will be the bike path.
And of course, since this is Madison, we can’t build anything without a TIF district:
The group has most of the pieces in place to move forward, but is waiting on one key element to green light the project.
“Madison Hospitality Group plans to approach Lake County regarding Tax Increment Financing, commonly referred to as TIF, to help with the conference center only,” added Schultz. “To date, Lake County has completed five TIFs, all which have been successful. The TIF is an essential piece to the success of the conference center. Given the success the county has seen in the past with TIFs, we are optimistic about this going through.”
Madison Hospitality Group has the option to sell the piece of property back to the LAIC for the purchase price if the TIF does not go through [Terry Schultz, press release, via Lake Area Improvement Corporation, 2017.11.10].
A TIF, for the industrial park? TIFs are supposed to be used to promote development where development isn’t happening. The state is already promoting development at the industrial park with Certified Ready Site status. The current map shows seventeen firms that have sprouted up in the industrial park over the last several years. The newest, biggest factories in Madison are mostly in the industrial park: market forces and the LAIC’s dogged boosterism appear to already be driving business to Madison’s southeastern dogleg. If Lake County has any interest in TIFfing out another parcel of land, it should be in an area of clear business decline… and that would be Madison’s downtown district.
But I know this is a losing argument. Hotels in this state are built by people who drive everywhere who assume everybody else drives everywhere and thus build their facilities in the foot-forsaken hinterlands of nearly every town in in this state, out on the highway in the spots least likely to spotlight the town’s real gems and promote downtown restaurants and shops.
Schultz and Howe are offering Madison a project it needs, more rooms and meeting space to attract more visitors and conventions and tourist dollars. It’s just too bad they can’t put their conference center where it would benefit Madison most, in the heart of the city, where visitors could actually enjoy Madison on foot. And it’s too bad they can’t imagine doing it without shaking down the county for another tax subsidy.
I don’t know anything about Madison, but you are absolutely right about location. My husband and I attend a national convention annually. The location varies as different states host. The conventions we most enjoy are the ones where we can walk out the front door of the hotel and find a variety of restaurants, bars, shops, and galleries within easy walking distance. A luxurious hotel stuck miles from anything else is not that much fun. We also tend to spend a lot more money if we aren’t trapped by location and inaccessibility. Memories are made with friends and colleagues as we explore new cities.
Right on the mark, Caroline! When you’ve spent all day driving to get somewhere, it’s really nice to park the car and stretch your legs. Walking to dinner or to a bar or park is a great way to unwind after a hard drive or during a busy conference. It’s also more fun exploring town on foot than driving around. If you drive and don’t find anything, you feel like you’ve wasted gas. If you walk around and don’t find anything, you figure, “Hey, At least we got some exercise!” As you observe, stick travelers in a hotel that’s far away from the action, and they just might stay in their room and watch TV instead of going out and spending more money.
Agree with all the comments above.
I believe in my heart that when TIF’s were “invented” (my word) that they were probably a good thing and did good things for their respective communities. Watching how developers/corporations and the “enablers” (gov’t entities) have abused them – TIF’s have become just another tool for these folks to skirt the system and get away from the intent of TIF’s—– and put more profits in their pockets. Angering.
The developers have been watching da mayor of Sioux Falls too much. Da mayor of all he knows pushed to build our $180million event center in an industrial park. He said it would expand into an entertainment district. Many of us are still trying to figure out how it could or can work.
The city decided, as the rock & roll pawn shop was leaving, a motel needed to be built across the street, under the airport runway flight path. This was done so he could claim growth was actually happening. To try and help the situation, da mayor had the event center part of town deemed an “entertainment district”. Now think of this, if another warehouse is built there, it can be claimed to be entertaining?
The event center has actually done little to grow the Sioux Falls economy. What has or will be the result of flash in the pan glory of glitzy shows as they continue sucking money out of Sioux Falls and the South Dakota economies? Our sales tax revenue is tanking and with Sioux Falls being such a large percentage of the South Dakota economy, it is destroying our collective tax base.
What good can come from building a Madison hotel and convention center in an industrial park? Nothing. It will just remind everyone to not go to Madison because there is nothing to see but metal warehouse type buildings.
The TIFs being granted to properties as economic development are like party favors given just for showing up. The TIF laws should be tightened back up to only cover truly blighted areas and to rebuild (not create) infrastructure.
Cory writes:
My Legion baseball team stayed at the Lake Park Motel during the 1988 state tournament. A 21-year-old housekeeping employee explicitly propositioned me for sex, then started a nasty rumor about me after I turned her away. I would have liked to see the place bulldozed and burned.
Mr. Evans writes:
It is good you had no matches, Mr. Evans, or bulldozers either, or Madison would have had some TIFs issued in 1989 and the entire area would likely be a booming, economic machine!
Kurt, the Lake Park Motel west of town is very different entity from the Lake Park Hotel that graced downtown Madison. The Lake Park Hotel burned down in 1980 (I think that’s the year). It was Madison’s equivalent of the Alonzo Ward Hotel in Aberdeen.
I’d written:
Cory replies:
Thanks for the clarification. By remarkable coincidence, another young woman sexually harassed me at a wedding reception at the Ward Hotel when I was in my 30s.
Mr. Evans, you are a stud muffin to every hooker in the state. Stop flashing your 1’s like they’s 50’s.
Mr. Evans writes:
No doubt. Are you sure it was a woman, or was it a heshe or whatever pronoun Mr. H is now deeming acceptable?
Hey, Grudz, shoving words in people’s mouths is verbal harassment. Knock it off. I’m glad you know the technical details of using the blockquote; now observe the factual/ethical details as well.