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Bloomington council discusses priorities in convention center expansion

By Lucas González

Posted May 9, 2024

Members of the Bloomington City Council are deciding what they want to see in a plan to expand the Monroe Convention Center. (FILE PHOTO: WFIU/WTIU News)

Members of the Bloomington City Council are deciding what they want to see in a plan to expand the Monroe Convention Center.

Council members met Thursday to discuss the project’s future and what goals they want to share with the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board (CIB), the group overseeing the project.

Councilors mentioned emphasizing environmental sustainability and de-emphasizing new parking; building upward, not outward; and limiting the city’s contributions to the project to its share of food-and-beverage tax revenues.

The city must first decide what percentage of those revenues it will spend on the project.

Of the $22,927,365 collected on the tax, the county has $4,107,387 and the city has $18,819,978. Former Mayor John Hamilton previously indicated the city would contribute about 7.5 percent of its share to the project — but based on Thursday’s discussions, that is not legally binding.

On Monday, the council shared a letter with the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission (RDC) regarding RDC-owned property.

“One major area of discussion and concern in recent city council meetings has been the potential expansion of the project to draw on city resources in excess of the food and beverage tax proceeds,” the letter states. “It is our view that the City of Bloomington should limit its expenditures on the convention center expansion project to the food and beverage tax revenues previously identified for that purpose.”

The council wants any RDC-owned land that may be considered for the expansion to be purchased by the CIB for at least the price the RDC paid to acquire it, according to the letter. In the case of the RDC-owned former Bunger & Robertson Property west of College Avenue and between Third and Fourth streets, this means the minimum selling price would be $6,895,000.

The council also must approve bonds for the project. The CIB puts the bonding capacity between $37 and $59 million. When added to the food-and-beverage tax revenues, that puts the total potential funding somewhere between $54 million and $76 million.

The CIB on Wednesday discussed expansion options for the convention center. It’s deciding which direction — north, south, east or west — it wants to build in, and if the addition should be 40,000 or 60,000 square feet.

Depending on which direction the center is expanded on, and by how much, a potential site acquisition alone could cost anywhere from $50 million and $70 million.

The board wants to vote on a preferred site option at its June 12 meeting.

In the meantime, the council is considering writing a letter expressing its goals and concerns to the CIB and holding another work session on the convention center, to be scheduled later.