Convention center could benefit university, NEA
By Roy Ockert Jr.
March 3, 2015
Coincidentally, I was attending a convention in Branson, Mo., when the news broke that Arkansas State University at Jonesboro is close to finalizing an agreement that could bring a hotel and convention center to campus.
At Branson the 200 or so members and guests of the Missouri-Arkansas District of Kiwanis International were uncertain about how long we’d be convened because a snowstorm had hit the night before and freezing rain was predicted to continue. Traffic in the hilly city had come to a standstill.
Fortunately, the freezing rain was minimal, and higher temperatures thawed things out Sunday morning so the hotel could move us out and get ready for the next convention.
Jonesboro will never be the convention attraction that Branson is, but the economic hub of Northeast Arkansas has long needed a convention center. At least once in a while a group like the Mo-Ark Kiwanians might meet in Jonesboro. That can’t happen now.
But ASU Chancellor Dr. Tim Hudson announced Friday the ongoing negotiations for a land-lease agreement with O’Reilly Hospitality Management of Springfield, Mo., for a $35 million to $45 million hotel and conference center near athletic and entertainment facilities on the edge of campus.
O’Reilly would build an Embassy Suites Hotel with an estimated 200 “full-service rooms” (whatever that means), a convention center with 40,000 to 50,000 square feet of space and a Houlihan’s restaurant to provide food services. That would be enough to host state conventions for many organizations, plus a few regional meetings.
While Jonesboro now has about 1,200 hotel rooms, they’re spread out among a dozen or so hotels, only a few of which could be described as upscale. One of those is Hilton Garden Inn, which has 100 rooms and 4,000 square space for meetings and banquets.
Locating a hotel and convention center on the ASU campus would have several advantages, including proximity to the Convocation Center, which can hold large events seating 10,000 people or more. A full-service hotel and restaurant within walking distance of athletic facilities would be attractive much of the year to visitors.
More in line, though, with the mission of a university would be the possibility that ASU and O’Reilly could work together to develop a hospitality management program at the school. If nothing else, the businesses would have a ready supply of part-time labor nearby.
However, don’t be surprised if some Jonesboro residents are a little skeptical. We’re been here before.
Most recently, a local real estate company’s deal with a client who wanted to develop a hotel and convention center fell through because of the lack of financing. That complex would have been on a 42-acre site formerly occupied by the Arkansas Services Center, which has been demolished.
Mayor Harold Perrin has long advocated a hotel-convention center in Jonesboro and has worked with various potential developers.
The most serious was in 2006 when hotel magnate John Q. Hammons bought a 14-acre site at Race Street and Fair Park Boulevard and proposed building a 9-story, 220-room hotel and convention center. The deal was contingent on the City of Jonesboro providing most of the financing for construction, to be paid for with a special 1-cent sales tax.
Perrin was an alderman then but served on the committee that worked with Hammons representatives. Hammons withdrew his offer when questions were raised about the total costs and risks for the city.
Hammons, who died in 2013 at age 94, developed 210 hotel properties in 40 states during his long career, one of which is the Embassy Suites and Convention Center at Rogers, which has 400 rooms and 80,000 square feet of convention space.
One that didn’t happen was a 3-way deal for a complex on the University of North Texas campus, which was abandoned in 2009 because of the recession. That would have required the City of Denton to build an adjacent convention center.
O’Reilly Hospitality Management revived the project in 2012 after the company hired Scott Tarwater as its chief development officer. Tarwater, previously a key officer in the Hammons organization, had been involved in the North Texas pitch.
However, differences of opinion between Tarwater and OHM Chief Executive Officer Tim O’Reilly led to Tarwater’s resignation in mid-2013, and after some complications last year the Denton City Council declared the project dead in November.
O’Reilly Hospital Management, started by Tim O’Reilly in 2007, certainly has the ability to make the Jonesboro project work. OHM has built a organization with more than 500 employees a managing nine hotels and restaurants across several states, with at least three others under construction.
Although the company is fairly young, members of the OHM team have extensive experience in developing public-private partnerships for hotel and convention center projects with municipalities and universities — more than $2.6 billion in total project costs over the past 25 years, according to the company’s Web site (www.ohospitalitymanagement.com).
The Web site also stresses a commitment to being “good citizens and partners in the communities we call home” and in being involved in local and national philanthropic endeavors.
A feasibility study now under way will surely show that Northeast Arkansas could benefit greatly from a convention center. The critical question is whether it would be profitable enough for the developer to make such an extensive investment and commitment.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.