With the proposed Iowa Events Center Hotel short a management company, it is unlikely that the Iowa Economic Development Authority will give final approval Friday to a district that would capture hotel/motel and sales tax revenue to help finance the $101 million project.

Polk County Administrator Mark Wandro said supporters are working with consultant Ellis Katz of Cleveland-based Project Management Consulting to find a management company that would operate the convention center hotel that would be located at Fifth Avenue and Park Street.

“Most likely, the conditional approval will be based on knowing who the operator is,” Wandro said.

A request for proposals has been issued, and it will likely be July before an operator is selected and approved by the seven-member Iowa Events Center Hotel Corp. that will own the facility.

Polk County supervisors and the Des Moines City Council have approved appointments to the board, made up of five representatives appointed by the county and two by the city. Read a related article at BusinessRecord.com.  

Katz is working as a subcontractor for the Weitz Co., which has been selected as the general contractor for the project.

Gerry Neugent, who was named the initial director of the nonprofit IEC Hotel Corp., said he hopes to schedule the group’s first meeting in early June, possibly on June 5 if schedules permit.

That first meeting will deal with organizational issues, such as the election of officers and the approval of contracts with Weitz, legal counsel Belin McCormick P.C. and finance consultants Piper Jaffray & Co.

In a previous meeting, the IEDA board also indicated it is reluctant to approve the additional $3 million in rebates that had been requested for the Iowa Convention and Entertainment Reinvestment District, an area that follows Fifth from the proposed hotel to Court Avenue.

The final application awaiting IEDA approval requested $39.4 million in revenues to be captured in the district, up from the $36.4 million approved by IEDA in the first application for funds.

Matt Anderson, assistant Des Moines city manager, has said the request for additional money was based on revised projections for anticipated sales tax revenues that could be generated by a Hy-Vee Inc. grocery store that should be under construction later this year at 420 Court Ave.

However, the additional $3 million is not critical to the complicated financing package for the project, he said.