HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners will have the opportunity Tuesday to be the first to publicly talk about a potentially large hotel complex project that is seeking a relatively small pool of American Rescue Plan Act funds from the county.
The project being contemplated, according to documents provided to commissioners, is a Hilton Garden Inn in Hutchinson, with a large outdoor entertainment amphitheater, conference center, and an upscale sports bar on the property.
The hotel, conference center, and amphitheater will be a majority locally funded project. There are two possible sites being considered and documents provided do not specify their location.
The ARPA funds would be to use towards the amphitheater’s infrastructure and surrounding entertainment district amenities and the request is for $235,000.
Local builder Aaron Brooks and former Great Bend City Administrator Howard Partington are both named in the application for funds. Howard Partington is Reno County Administrator Randy Partington's father.
Commissioners were informed of the elder Partington's assisting Brooks in the application process prior to the request and Randy Partington will have no role in the scoring of any of the applications.
In fact, he plans to ask commissioners Tuesday if they want to have a separate committee do the scoring or if they want to do it themselves.
According to Brooks and Partington, the Hilton Garden Inn will be the centerpiece of a six plus acre development, where the plan is to invest $15 million for the Hilton Garden Inn, and an additional $3 to 5 million to complete the amphitheater, restaurant, and entertainment district.
The intent would be to leverage incentives from the State of Kansas to complete the project.
The amphitheater infrastructure request is one of five new requests added to the original list given to commissioners earlier this year.
Reno County has designated the first $10 million of their $12,042,385 allocation to replace lost public sector revenue, allowing for more flexibility of the allocations.
The primary priorities previously outlined by commissioners included childcare, housing and economic development.
The Board of County Commissioners meets Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Reno County Annex.