07/16/07 Council Special Meeting Minutes

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SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007 number of different Marriott facility. They indicate that there are eleven brands of Marriott that exist. If you think about it, here in town there are three of those, the Marriott Downtown, Residence Inn by Marriott over on Niles Avenue and the Courtyard by Marriott which is located in Mishawaka. It was mentioned that they are in Indianapolis, well let the record show that they are well represented in South Bend as well. One of the things that Marriott brings to the table is there ability to help the owners of these various facilities because some of them are privately owned, some have ownership connected with the Marriott International Group. But they can cross market and help strengthen each one of their facilities within a community. Also in the second paragraph that individual hotels are encourage to work together to maximize their performance. In fact, in commitment # 11 states that is what the owners of the Marriott facility at the Eddy Street Commons are going to do. The last paragraph is the most important one, it reveals somewhat the thought process that goes into a Marriott facility and there are committees that look at these things and make a decision whether or not they make sense to allow the Marriott brand to go with that particular facility. As the letter indicates there has been some preliminary review at this particular Marriott at Eddy Street Commons, but since that still do not have a final plan because that plan has not been approved yet, they have not made fmal decision with regard to the Marriott at the Eddy Street Commons. White Lodging is one of the developers of that facility and one of the most successful and largest operators of a Marriott facility across the country, and one can assume by this that their plan that they are going to bring to the Marriott is going to be well received. Mr. Nussbaum quoted from the third paragraph "We believe that this hotel will be able to operate successfully in South Bend without significantly impacting the existing Marriott. It also states that the current owner of the Marriott in downtown South Bend is aware of this situation and finally it says in the commitment that Marriott will if their analysis is found incorrect, that if there is an adverse impact upon the downtown Marriott that they will take appropriate action to make sure that impact is addressed. Mr. Nussbaum reads this letter and based upon the conversations that he has had with Mr. Marvin that their goal is our goal and that is for the downtown Marriott to thrive. The Eddy Street Commons Marriott thrive as well and that the two of them together are going to be able to provide opportunities for the Century Center downtown who has to sometimes turn away conventions and events, because they don't have enough hotel space, just like the University of Notre Dame sometimes has to turn down certain events because they don't have enough hotel space. Mr. Nussbaum's thinks that the Marriott has addressed the concerns of the Council and if the Council is looking for something more than this, in the interest of honesty, he doesn't think that he is going get anything more than this, such as a ten year commitment not to close the Marriott downtown, this is a unique circumstance and he appreciates the Marriott and their undertaking. Commitment #11 that Kite is proposing to work together with the various Marriott's and hopefully this addresses the concerns of the Council as it relates to the downtown Marriott. Mr. Compton read into the record three item changes: Under Development Standards on Page 7 of 24 (B) Add an item #3 Fire Suppression "All City homes should be equipped with an automatic sprinkler system." Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand advised to clarify for the Council the commitment summary summarizes all of the new language that has been placed in the 24 pages document which is Exhibit A which the Council already has. In light of the recommendation that Mr. Compton made as part of presentation, he was referring to both documents, to make it clearer, the Council has accepted Exhibit A the 24 page document. Ms. Cekanski-Farrand has asked the presenter to read into the record the amendments that are similar to what has been stated verbally. Because that is the document that the Council has already accepted, so Mr. Compton is making reference to page 7 and page 21.