The Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center Advisory Commission is working with an Indianapolis-based development corporation to refine plans for a downtown convention center expansion,
The county commissioners voted unanimously on July 19 to hire Sun Development and Management, Indiana Public Media has reported.
Commission chair John Whikehart says Sun Development earned the recommendation because they’ve done similar projects. He says the other contender, Acquest Realty, would have served more in a consulting role
“They are not a builder, they are not a constructor of hotels. Sun Corporation on the other hand has a history of developments both in the state of Indiana and outside Indiana in both hotel construction and Convention Center expansion,” Whikehart says.
There have been talks for years about expanding the convention center. But nothing had happened recently until the advisory commission was formed in April.
“The fact that we’ve moved it along this far in the process that we’ve identified a developer and we are ready to sit down and talk with that developer about both a hotel and the expansion of the Convention Center I would say is significant,” Whikehart says.
Whikehart hopes to complete negotiations with Sun Development and Management by September and present back to the County Commissioners the final plan for the project.
