Former Mayor Urges Council to Reengage on Wyndham Redevelopment as Downtown Hotel Sits Boarded

Former Mayor Jim Lingfelder told the Springfield City Council on Aug. 19 that the city should reengage developers and local economic partners to preserve the boarded-up Wyndham Hotel and to prevent long-term downtown decline. Lingfelder summarized a multi-year history of proposals and negotiations that preceded the current condition, saying the current owner purchased the property in 2019, invested $1 million to open a Starbucks on site in 2021 and later proposed conversions to apartments and mixed hotel/apartment plans. He told the council that a March 2023 proposal by Tower Capital Group to convert the Wyndham into a Delta by Marriott with 250 hotel rooms and 200 market-rate apartments represented an upscale redevelopment of more than $50 million, with up to $18,750,000 in potential tax incentives generated by a targeted TIF for hotel and sales tax revenue. Lingfelder said the 2023 redevelopment plan (presented as ordinance 2023-086 to the Springfield Economic Development Commission and approved by that commission) was later tabled by the previous city council and that the hotel is now boarded and generating downtown blight. He urged the current council to reengage Ryan McCrady and the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance to depoliticize the project and assist with finding a buyer or investor, and he filed his comments with the clerk. Other speakers during public comment echoed concerns about blighted downtown properties and called for more proactive inspections and programs to address problem landlords, ranging from incentive programs to annual inspections. No formal action on Wyndham was taken at the Aug. 19 meeting; Lingfelder’s remarks were filed as public comment.