A Minnesota-based developer’s plans to build a 425-room Hilton hotel has been approved by a selection committee appointed to evaluate three proposals for a hotel near the Iowa Events Center that would be suitable as a convention headquarters.

This morning, the selection committee recommended that the Polk County Board of Supervisors proceed with negotiations with Mortensen Development Inc. for a 16-story, 294,000-square-foot hotel, which would be built north of Veterans Memorial Auditorium and south of Crocker Street. The estimated cost for the hotel is $92 million. Mortensen’s plans call for part of the cost to be paid by some form of subsidy.

Cliff Wobken, central services manager for the Polk County General Services Department and a member of the selection committee, said the committee liked Mortensen’s plan best of the three proposals because the company expressed a willingness to be flexible with its concept. In addition, Mortensen said it would extend a room-block commitment of 85 percent to the Iowa Events Center for its large events, and the company would serve as both the developer and contractor in the project, which could produce cost savings. From a design standpoint, Mortensen promotes sustainable architecture, which the committee thought was important.

Plans for the Hilton call for about 46,000 square feet of events space, including a ballroom. Matt Homan, general manager of the Iowa Events Center and another member of the selection committee, is in favor of a headquarters hotel to make his facilities and the city of Des Moines a more attractive place for conventions, but he said more discussion with Mortensen is needed in regard to ballroom space in the hotel. He recently proposed an addition to Hy-Vee Hall that would include a ballroom.

“I still think a ballroom is essential to add to Hy-Vee Hall,” Homan said. “If a hotel has a ballroom and we don’t have one at Hy-Vee Hall, it could affect our resources in a negative manner.”

Besides Wobken and Homan, the other members of the selection committee were Greg Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau; Erin Olson-Douglas, a consultant hired by the city of Des Moines to work on a downtown development study; and Matt Anderson, an economic development coordinator for the city of Des Moines.

The other two plans that the selection committee reviewed were from Texas-based Garfield Traub Development, which proposed an 18-story, 400-room hotel with a cost of about $105 million and South Dakota-based Regency Inns, which proposed building two smaller hotels with a cost of about $35.5 million.

Supervisor Tom Hockensmith responded to the recommendation by voicing a desire for thoughtful discussions over this matter.

“We are not in a crisis situation here to make a decision,” Hockensmith said. “The Events Center is doing very well, and we have the luxury to make a well-planned decision.”

The supervisors were unable to take action today on this issue because board members Tom Hockensmith and John Mauro were absent. The board is planning further discussion on the issue on Monday. The next step in this process will be for the supervisors to enter discussions with Mortensen to gather more information about the company’s plans.

“This doesn’t mean that the city and county are ready to cut a check,” Hockensmith said, “but we will get more information about what they have in mind.”

Supervisor E.J. Giovannetti said he is looking forward to the next stages of discussion, where more will be decided about how the project will be financed.

“We as a county have made a tremendous investment at the Iowa Events Center already, and I’m interested to see who else comes to the table here to support this,” Giovannetti said.