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We've raised questions about the number of visitors to downtown Jamestown in the past. The Hamister Group has raised the issue in a way that we can't by putting the Doubletree Hotel on Fourth Street on the market.
The development group – which reopened the formerly closed Holiday Inn in 2019 after a six-year closure – says business that dropped off during the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't rebounded enough in the ensuing six years. The property went on the market a few months ago with no price, but the listing identifies the opportunity as a bank short sale available significantly below redevelopment and replacement cost.
The Hamister Group using a bank short sale and taking less than redevelopment and replacement costs should send a loud message about efforts to attract travelers to Jamestown. We have no doubt the hotel is busy at certain times, like the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, graduation season and at times during the summer. Developers are in the business of making money, not losing it – and this sale sends a message that Jamestown has some work to do before a hotel is a guaranteed money maker in downtown Jamestown.
Let's not forget that the Hamister Group isn't the only one with a significant investment in the Doubletree Hotel's success. Jamestown put $2.4 million from its 2016 Downtown Revitalization Initiative into the project.New York state invested an additional $200,000. The hotel property also received county IDA help through a 15-year tourism destination payment in lieu of taxes agreement with a value of $1.9 million, a $900,000 Al Tech loan and a $432,000 sales tax exemption.
That's a lot of investment into a project that the developer now wants to wash its hands of seven years after the grand reopening.
Jamestown is in the midst of figuring out how to spend a second $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant from the state. What happened to some of the centerpieces of the first DRI awarded in 2016 – like the Doubletree Hotel or the Jamestown Brewing Company – needs to be a part of these current discussions. No one in 2016 could have seen COVID coming, but anyone who had spent much time downtown had questions about the traffic in a big, newly renovated hotel. The Key Bank and Furniture Mart buildings remain undeveloped 10 years after being included in the first DRI plan approved by the state. Riverfront development property that was to receive $1.4 million was never acquired. Excursion trains didn’t happen. Developers who received $3.5 million have either closed their business (Jamestown Brewing Company) or are in the process of selling (Hamister). Let's say this isn't the 10th anniversary of the DRI that we were hoping to see.
The lesson is this. We can spend money on projects and have nice, shiny new things downtown, but shiny new buildings don't automatically mean increased foot traffic. The Jamestown Meetings and Conferences Initiative, which includes the city, county, CHQ Chamber, county Visitors Bureau, Gebbie Foundation and city attractors and hotels, are trying to make Jamestown a destination for boutique meetings and conferences. It's something – but it's noteworthy that the Hamister Group thought so much of its chances of success that the group is selling its downtown hotel five months after the initiative went public.
How are we going to fill the buildings and attractions we're talking about building with DRI 2.0? That's the question anyone from outside the area is going to ask in the wake of the Hamister Group's decision to sell the Doubletree Hotel – and we're not sure we have a good answer to that question right now.