A couple of Hamilton County commissioners are unsure about the funding plan to redevelop the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati
3CDC CEO Steve Leeper presented the initial plans to City Council last week, and to county commissioners this week. It would cost around $200 million and require refinancing debt shared by the city and county.
"We represent 49 municipalities and there may be some other things — Blue Ash may want to do something that would qualify for these dollars," said Commission Vice President Alicia Reece. "So I just want to make sure we're not doing something that strangleholds us, handcuffs us from future things beyond just the city of Cincinnati convention center."
Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas said Thursday she wants everyone to know the board will protect the rights of county residents.
"If we're not satisfied, I don't care how pretty the pictures are, or how great the plans are, it's not going to go through," she said.
Leeper also revealed four proposals for the design of a new convention hotel. He says four developers submitted a response to 3CDC's request for proposals:
A new hotel will cost around $500 million. Instead of building on the former Millennium site on Elm, 3CDC wants to build on what’s currently a surface parking lot to the south on West Fifth.
A committee will interview all four developers this month, with members from the city, county and several organizations. They’ll offer a recommendation for city and county leaders to consider.
Summerow Dumas and Reece also expressed frustration with a lack of information about the stadium naming rights deal between Paycor and the Bengals. The Enquirer reported on Tuesday that taxpayers will get nothing from the deal, and that the team notified county administration about that in August.
Reece said the Enquirer story was the first she'd heard about that.
"I don't want to find out the paper got anything that the county received, and I didn't see it," Reece said.
County Administrator Jeff Aluotto said the report didn't include the full context.
"We have received notification from the team that we do not participate financially, but we have not yet had the ability to examine ourselves the financial terms and conditions of that agreement to verify that," Aluotto said.
Commissioners have so far been getting information about the naming rights deal in executive session, meaning a private meeting not open to the public. Reece suggested cutting back on those and getting updates publicly instead.
