The Indiana Hospitality & Entertainment Grant program is intended to help those businesses “largely excluded from other government assistance programs,” the state said.
Given the revolution in staffing, it’s safe to say office redesigns will deal with two new normals—accommodating fewer full-time workers and making workspaces more resistant to the spread of disease.
With thousands of visitors in town for the NCAA basketball tournament and other athletic events, occupancy rates at downtown Indianapolis hotels were the highest in the nation for the past two weekends, breaking the pandemic tourism setback that settled in a year ago.
The move will allow fans and other visitors to use the Hyatt Regency, Westin and JW Marriott hotels for the first time in 10 days, after the three properties were fully booked by the NCAA for tournament needs.
Town officials have grown “frustrated by a lack of transparency and communication from Loftus Robinson despite our multiple requests,” as well as the firm’s effort to continue batting away responsibility for the project.
Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard, the Carmel City Council and the city’s Redevelopment Commission first envisioned building a boutique hotel in the affluent Indianapolis suburb’s reimagined downtown in the 1990s.
Already, the project is having an impact on existing businesses, including Village Home Furniture and Clocks, whose owner said it plans to close the store this month, rather than move.
The usual plan, which involves packing people closely on as many cots and mats as Wheeler Mission’s shelters can hold, isn’t an option under social distancing guidelines.
The 139-room hotel will be among the first components of the $300 million Bottleworks District to open. Additional tenants—including retailers, restaurants and entertainment-focused businesses—will begin opening early next year.
With travel and convention business continuing to stagnate and COVID-19 cases on a steep rise, many properties find themselves scrambling for long-term loan solutions and pleading for help from lenders.
Work on the ritzy Mass Ave hotel has continued throughout the pandemic, despite delays to other projects around the city. The Bottleworks campus food hall is slated to open in January.
Like most hotels, the Conrad Indianapolis has been hammered by the pandemic and the related shutdown of conventions and other hospitality-related events and establishments that create business for the hotel.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association report is meant to underscore what the lobbying group says is a critical need for additional stimulus ahead of Congress breaking for its October recess.
Loftus Robinson LLC partnered with an Indianapolis hotelier late last week to shore up financing for the project at the southeast corner of 16th and Main streets. Construction has been stalled since July 2019.
