1655-9 African American/Blacks must show immediate progress toward securing a new chain.
Arthur Courshon, chairman of Jefferson Bank and a member of Miami Beach' s
hotel negotiating committee, will spell out two possible courses of action at
a March 15 City Commission meeting: give HCF more time to find another hotel
chain or revoke their development rights and open the project up for new bids.
"They' re going to have a tough decision to make and I 'm not going to make
it easy, " Courshon said of the City Commission. "They may say we 've invested
enough time with HCF and it may be time for a stronger group to come forward. "
But Bailey said HCF' s experience and knowledge of the process makes the
group a natural choice to continue with the project.
"We have a tremendous head start at this stage; if you turn to a new
alternative, you ' re starting from ground zero, " he said.
Miami Beach Mayor Seymour Gelber agreed.
"Once you put out ( for new bids) , it becomes a whole new ballgame and you
don 't know what contingencies you face, " Gelber said. "We ' ll make every effort
to proceed as we began. "
Courshon suggested giving HCF 30 to 40 days to find a new hotel operator,
but Bailey said that ' s not enough time. "Given the fact we' re working with
large corporations and huge sums of money, that ' s a pretty narrow window to
conclude a transaction of this type, " he said.
Calin feels up to 90 days may be necessary to sign a new chain, but
Courshon said he would not recommend that much time.
If an extension is agreed on, Carlton said it will likely require that
HCF make identifiable progress over time toward securing a new hotel chain.
"It has to be an aggressive schedule, but one that' s achievable, " Carlton
said.
Courshon, Carlton and Gelber all reiterated the city' s commitment to
making Miami Beach the home of the nation' s first convention-size hotel owned
by African Americans.
"Our commitment is still as firm as ever and we intend to produce that. "
KEYWORDS: BLACK TOURISM HOTEL INDUSTRY MB
TAG: 9501160324
30 of 34 , 11 Terms
mh95 PARTNERS: BLACK-OWNED 01/26/1995
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1995, The Miami Herald
DATE: Thursday, January 26, 1995 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 99 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Eugene Ford Jr. and Jerry D. Bailey and Peter J.
Calin (a)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: TONY PUGH Herald Staff Writer
PARTNERS: BLACK-OWNED
HOTEL IS MOVING AHEAD
When Miami Partners For Progress was formed in 1993, many people felt the
group would never achieve its major objective -- to bring a black-owned,
convention-size hotel to Miami Beach.
But 20 months after the proposal was announced, developers have come
forward, the city has chipped in $10 million to buy the land, Sheraton Hotels
wants to operate it, and a group of local banks are working to finance it.
But still, the rumor mill churns. Why is it taking so long? Do the
developers have enough money? Are the banks shying away?