By Joe Ragusa

BLOOMINGTON – Two proposals for downtown development were in the spotlight during Monday night’s Bloomington Committee of the Whole meeting.

Jeff Geibelhausen’s proposal focused on what to do with the Front ‘N Center building and the Commerce Bank building.

He presented three options for what to do with those properties. The most expensive one requires a city investment of $10-$14 million and Geibelhausen said that option would create about 120 hotel rooms.

“It’s probably the most extreme (option) in a lot of ways but it’s a great looking layout and it’s something we have a lot of interest in pursuing,” Geibelhausen said.

The other proposal presented by David Bentley focused on turning the current Pantagraph building into a hotel and conference center with a capacity of 60 rooms. Bentley said his plan could lead to more development downtown.

“Sixty rooms we know is a little lower than what we’d like to have, but one of our first thoughts was that we’re only going to get 60 rooms out of this” Bentley said. “All of us have learned through this hotel investigating that if one hotel becomes successful, there’s going to be a second one.”

Bentley’s proposal would require an investment of $6 million from the city. He said if the council wants, his proposal allows for more floors to be added to the building at a cost of approximately $2 million per floor.

City staff will continue researching the risks and rewards of each proposal for the council to discuss at a later date. No action was taken Monday night.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].