HUTCHINSON, Kan. - While the city has been working to come up with a new hotel and convention center the need has just increased. It appears the Atrium Hotel and Conference Center announced that it has closed.
“It’s sad news for the employees of the Atrium, the owner and the community when you see a business go through a closure,” Chamber President Debra Teufel said. “The next thing we need to do is let the employees know there are resources to surround them.”
Teufel says that there is one thing on the side fo the employees and that’s the job market. “The good news is that there are jobs out there for them.”
Teufel says the Kansas Workforce Center will be on hand to help those cut loose find work. The closing of the Atrium also puts further pressure on the hotels in the city when it comes to the NJCAA National Basketball Tournament after there were issues last year, especially at the Atrium.
“We have been looking at that since last March when we had some issues,” CVB Director Leann Cox said. “Our first priority is to our client which is the NJCAA, and we want to make sure they are always happy.”
Cox says some hotels have provided extra rooms for the tournament and some teams will be staying outside of Hutchinson. “We’re having to move some teams out of town so the sooner we can fix the hotel situation in town the faster we can get those teams back to Hutchinson.”
Cox took the time to meet with the Atrium staff on Friday to discuss the closing. “I met with the former manager today. His focus was on his staff because it is the holidays, a terrible time,” Cox said. “They’ve been struggling for a while and have been doing everything they can to hold on.”
Teufel says while the Atrium is closed there are plenty of other options in the city for events. Teufel also said that the ability to host conventions and events in the city is not dead with the closing of the convention center.
“One of the things we’ve been doing with developers is looking at this market,” Teufel said. “Tourism is not off in Hutchinson. The transient guest tax for 2019 was actually up by 6% so the market is here. We just have to fix the product.”
The city is working with a firm to find a developer for a new hotel and convention center. Several sites are being considered, mostly along the K-61 corridor. There has also been some discussion about the center going in or near the fairgrounds.
______________________________________
Update at 2:15 p.m.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. - While the city has been working to come up with a new hotel and convention center the need has just increased. It appears the Atrium Hotel and Conference Center announced that it has closed.
A source to hutchpost.com who was an employee at the Atrium said that they were informed that the hotel and center are shut down.
The Chamber of Commerce said they have received that word too and that CVB Director Leann Cox was meeting with Atrium officials.
The news comes as the city is working with a firm to find a developer for a new hotel and convention center. Several sites are being considered, mostly along the K-61 corridor although there has been some discussion about the center going in or near the fairgrounds.
________________________________________
HUTCHINSON, Kan. -The Atrium Hotel and Conference Center has closed. Employees were notified that the troubled complex has shut down. We'll have more on this as we get the information on hutchpost.com