Kokomo breaks ground on long-awaited hotel and conference center
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Officials in Kokomo broke ground Tuesday on a major downtown development project that has been more than a decade in the making.
The development will include a 55,000-square-foot conference center designed to accommodate events with up to 1,000 guests, as well as a 108-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel that will include restaurant space.
The project is a partnership among the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance and Visitors Bureau, the city of Kokomo, Howard County, and Lafayette-based SSG Hotels that will come with a total cost of at least $50 million, officials said.
Sherry Matlock, manager of the Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau, told Inside INdiana Business the project will help drive the local economy and economic development through visitor travel.
“Bringing in new visitors through attracting meetings and conferences—which is a market that we’re currently not in at the moment—will really boost our local economy through the visitor spending that the visitors bring through local businesses, shops, hotels, restaurants,” Matlock said.
The project is being developed near the intersection of Main and Superior streets. Some site work has already taken place, but construction is slated to begin in earnest on Aug. 19.
The idea for the conference center project dates back to 2013, when the city released its Downtown Kokomo Master Plan Update. The master plan said such a development would create a destination anchor for the city’s downtown.
A Proposed Conference Center Market Study that was first commissioned in 2018 and updated in 2022 found that the demand for lodging in the city would increase as Kokomo continues to attract industrial growth and economic development.
Representatives from area businesses, state associations and other stakeholders said there was a need for a facility that could accommodate conferences, small conventions and corporate meetings that at the time had to be held outside of the city due to a lack of suitable local facilities.
“We obviously aren’t going to be a competitor to the conference centers and convention centers in the Indianapolis area,” said Lori Dukes, CEO of the Greater Kokomo Alliance. “They are pursuing something quite larger, but there still is a very significant market available for these more mid-sized conferences that we intend to be available for, and know that that also is going to align well with a lot of the economic opportunities that we have ongoing in the community today.”
Dukes said a projected economic impact study is forthcoming that will give an estimate on how much economic impact will be generated by the hotel and conference center.
While a precise cost for the project has not yet been determined, Dukes said the minimum total investment will be about $50 million.
The conference center will come with a price tag of $27.5 million. The city has approved $22 million in bonds for the project. Additional funding includes $3.25 million from the city, $500,000 from the county, and $3.75 million from the CVB’s innkeeper’s tax revenue.
Dukes said the bonds will be repaid using annual contributions from the county totaling $150,000, as well as $300,000 or 25% of the innkeeper’s tax from the CVB, whichever is greater, and tax increment financing revenue.
Matlock said the county increased the inkeeper’s tax from 5% to 8% in 2019 in support of the conference center project.
“I think taking action to increase in keepers tax really shows this community’s awareness of that strategic plan and moving forward, taking active steps and moving toward it, knowing that it would take time to collect those monies and hold them for the eventual down payment on this project,” Dukes said. “So I think it has shown the community’s commitment over time.”
The hotel portion of the project is primarily being funded by SSG Hotels, along with a $5 million grant from the state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI.
Dukes said the early feedback on the project has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The community understands that our downtown has been through a dramatic revitalization over the past 10 years or so—the walkability aspect, the attributes that really enable individuals to not only be present and provide shopping opportunities, but now growing and expanding entertainment opportunities,” she said. “So it just is going to add another really great asset to the already very attractive downtown.”
The conference center will also be the new home of the Kokomo Automotive Museum, displaying a permanent collection of historically significant and Kokomo-made Haynes and Apperson automobiles.
“I couldn’t be more excited and proud to see this transformative project come to fruition for the Kokomo community,” Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore said in written remarks. “I truly appreciate the amount of time and energy that has been dedicated to this collaborative effort between a number of individuals and organizations.”
Construction is expected to take 18-20 months to complete.