Hotel is feasible for downtown; but possible locations not identified

Published 8:37 am Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Members of the Danville-Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau and other community officials heard the final summary of its $15,000 downtown hotel feasibility study by RKG Associates on Friday, but didn’t allow public access to the findings.

CVB director Jennifer Kirchner said the board decided to go into executive session so that particular properties and sites could be discussed in private.

Kyle Talente, who presented RKG’s findings in two previous open meetings, said after this executive session, the discussions involved site analysis and possible downtown locations that would be suitable for a boutique-type hotel within a 30- to 50-room range.

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In an email following the executive session about the feasibility of Danville supporting a small downtown hotel Kirchner wrote, “This last section consisted of a property analysis, in a defined area of downtown Danville, to select prime locations for hotel development.”

She wrote that the CVB has “received extensive data and expert analysis to be used as a tool to recruit a new hotel.”

In the CVB’s regular meeting Monday morning, board chairman Brittney Adams said the CVB “did really good ground work” in having the study made.

Kirchner said they were now ready to pass on the findings they discussed in executive session to the Economic Development Partnership board at its regular meeting on Wednesday morning. She said the EDP will be able to use the information found in the study to recruit the right kind of hotel that the area could support.

“We hope we set our partners (the EDP) up for success to take this to the next level,” she said.

Kirchner said the researched data and professional anaylisis will be beneficial for anyone who wants to open a hotel soon, but will also serve future developers, “for years and years to come.”