[Concerning Intelligencer Journal New Era report “ Owner plans to raze Willow Valley Inn”]
Did the Convention Center just claim its first viable business?
I would say yes. The CC has hurt Willow Valley more than any other property except for the Host, which obviously is not doing well either.
I wonder if Marlon Thomas regrets serving as a witness for the defense at the hotel tax trial? Nothing like local politics to make you do things that you don’t believe in.
Let’s not confuse entities here….The Convention Center (by itself) did not hurt Willow Valley….it was the attached (taxpayer subsidized) PSP Marriott Hotel which has the business advantage of a ‘captive audience’, no taxes to pay, self-serving lease provisions with the Convention Center, along with the ‘politcal pull’ and free marketing by LNP that factored into Willow Valley’s decision. Put the blame on PSP, not the CC.
PSP is CC and CC is PSP.
It’s not just the CC or just the hotel…it is both, the entire project. The principle of the project. The financing of the project. The stupidity to spend the money to simply move business from one part of the County to another while creating all that debt. You would think we were a Democratic county.
The most vulnerable are the hotels that do group business and Willow Valley has always done a lot of that business…mostly in the religious market. That is exactly a market that has been targeted by the CC.
This project will hurt everyone!