Lots of people have talked about renovating the Randolph Hotel, but the idea seems to have lost momentum.

“There was a proposal that sounded good for both sides,” said Joe Coppola of Coppola Properties, the hotel owner. “They took it back to their side, and it hasn’t progressed any further.”

“There’s been no movement, but I believe it’s still in play,” said Tim Leach of the Downtown Community Alliance. “A couple of developers have been interested and have talked with the owner. They’re trying to reach an understanding of how the property might be acquired and used; they’re exploring the financial feasibility of it.”

George Sherman of Minneapolis appears to be one potential developer of the building. However, his local representative, Jackie Nickolaus, said: “I have not talked to George about the Randolph in quite a while. The last time we had a discussion, John [Ruan] III was going to do some research.” Ruan is reportedly interested in being involved with reviving the Randolph, but was not available for comment.

“This hasn’t been a top priority for any of us,” Nickolaus said. Sherman is filing an application for tax credits to jump-start his proposed Metro Lofts project, and Nickolaus said, “When we get these tax credit applications off the desk, we might circle back to the Randolph.”

Coppola said his company hopes to see a proposal reach “at least the option stage” by the end of the year. The owners “are pursuing conversations, looking at historic tax credits and watching to see how the Spaghetti Works fills,” referring to the conversion of the nearby building’s upper floors into apartments. “We think it will fill immediately,” he said.

Coppola said his company also has talked about converting the Randolph into apartments. The hotel currently maintains 85 percent to 90 percent occupancy.

At the other end of the block, Coppola Properties is wrapping up the conversion of the Kirkwood Hotel into condominium units. “It’s incredibly tricky and expensive,” Coppola said. “When we have a couple months under our belt operating that, we’ll refocus our energies.”

The Randolph’s future affects an adjoining Coppola property and at least partly depends on the fate of a city-owned vacant lot across Court Avenue.

“We sat back and passed on some leases we could have taken in the adjoining building, because [potential developers] indicated that would interfere with their chances for development,” Coppola said. “We can’t afford to do that too often.”

City Manager Rick Clark recently said the city plans to wait for nearby projects to get up and running before making another attempt to start development on its vacant lot on Court.

Coppola said talk of a hotel on that site has limited developers’ interest in the Randolph. “Until that’s decided,” he said, “developers are not going to want to compete with something that would be subsidized [by the city] right next door.”

Leach said the DCA has been working with developers to encourage them to move ahead with a Randolph commitment. “It’s all about financial feasibility,” he said. “Rehabbing historic structures is very expensive, and it comes down to how much debt the project can hold, how much subsidy it needs and how much money in historic tax credits it can bring to the table. The Randolph probably would require New Markets Tax Credits as well. There are a lot of layers of financing that have to be worked through.”