A fair article about how the Seetwater project(BassPro) may impact the Von Braun Center. Once Huntsville sees what is planned, the VBC will respond with and expansion and overhaul. Some of the comments are either stupidity or lies and would raise some warning flags.
Gary Glovers comments, about having never heard of John Q. Hammons.
Hammons is probably the biggest and most successful hotel/convention center developer in the country. He has developed Bass pro sites as well.
Glover is out of touch if this is true.
This comment by him shows he has no idea of what he is talking about.
"My thinking is this is probably more of a thing to meet the needs of Huntsville because Huntsville doesn't have the opportunity to expand the Von Braun Center," Glover said.
Not only is there room but an expansion has been in the planning stage for years.
And Mayor Spencers comments about it not being a major threat is probably a smokescreen. Right now it isn't but if the city doesn't do anything over the next 3-5 years it will be. The VBC is a different type of venue than this will be
so overall it will be a positive for all of North Alabama. A bigger question is does this mean Decatur will never have a downtown convention center which at one time was considered a priority for downtown development?
By KEITH CLINESTimes Staff Writer
[email protected]
Sweetwater could compete with VBC for smaller events
The proposed hotel, convention center and entertainment arena in the Sweetwater development in Decatur could compete with Huntsville for some of the same conferences and entertainment.
The first phase of Sweetwater in the southwest corner of Alabama 20 and Interstate 65 will include a Bass Pro Shops store, an all-suite hotel with more than 300 rooms, an 80,000-square-foot conference center attached to the hotel and an entertainment venue that will seat 5,000 to 8,000 people.
Decatur Mayor Don Kyle said the Sweetwater hotel and conference center won't have as much space available for conventions as the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.
"I think it would compete on the moderate to smaller-sized situations," Kyle said.
Kyle said he has not seen drawings of the hotel and conference center, but he has been told that it would seat up to 2,000 people for meals.
Charles Winters, vice president of marketing for the Huntsville-Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the proposed Sweetwater convention center could provide "a little more competition" for Huntsville.
Sweetwater would be another option for groups that hold conferences, Winters said, but Huntsville appeals to groups with a large number of attendees.
"We serve as the anchor of North Alabama as far as sleeping rooms and shopping availability," he said.
Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer said she doesn't view the Sweetwater convention component as a major threat because the site seems far from other amenities
Gary Glover of Genesis USA Development LLC, which is developing Sweetwater, said it's too early to talk about details of the hotel and center.
Glover, a Nashville resident who is among about 25 people from across the country who formed Genesis for the project, would only say that it would be a four-star hotel.
Gaylord Entertainment, which owns Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, owned part of Bass Pro Shops until it sold its 13 percent interest in the company for $222 million last year.
Glover said a Gaylord hotel at Sweetwater "would be news to me."
John L. Morris, who started Bass in Springfield, Mo., in 1971, at one time worked with Springfield-based hotel developer John Q. Hammons to build Bass Pro Shops and Embassy Suites hotels at the same locations.
Glover said he has never heard of Hammons, who developed the Embassy Suites Hotel in Huntsville.
Sweetwater's first phase with the hotel, conference center, Bass Pro Shops and another 300,000 square feet of retail space will be built on 125 acres and require an investment of up to $200 million, officials said.
Glover said it is too early to discuss specifics about entertainment prospects at the Sweetwater arena because all of the details have not been decided. He also said another partner in Genesis is "the keeper of the vision of the entertainment aspect" of the development.
Glover said he doesn't expect the Sweetwater arena to compete with the VBC for all of the same entertainers.
"My thinking is this is probably more of a thing to meet the needs of Huntsville because Huntsville doesn't have the opportunity to expand the Von Braun Center," Glover said.
Kyle said some of the Genesis investors "are tightly connected" to the entertainment industry. He said those industry connections and how near Sweetwater will be to Nashville helps the prospect of attracting stars of all levels.
The VBC arena seats up to 8,000 people for concerts, depending on the size and configuration of the stage. It seats about 6,600 people for sporting and other events held on the arena floor.
Kyle said he has been told that the Sweetwater arena would be an entertainment venue with theater-type seating.
That setup would rule out the arena hosting sporting events such as indoor football and minor league hockey.
"The initial thought has been for entertainment events," Glover said when asked if the Sweetwater arena could be used for sporting events.
Steve Maples, executive director of the VBC, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
Later phases of the development on the 540-acre site could represent an investment of up to $1.3 billion.
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