Yesterday’s piece concerned the goings-on at the City of Trenton-owned Lafayette Yard Hotel (have to get out of the habit of calling it “The Marriott” soon!). Namely the proposed transition from the current franchise and licensing agreement with Marriott and the management contract with Waterford Hotel Group to new deals with Wyndham Hotels and Marshall Hotels, as voted upon by the Board of the Lafayette Yard Community Development Corporation (LYCDC). Per my piece and articles in the local press, I had the impression that City Council would start to address these deals during its session of March 5.
It’s happening sooner than that. According to the agenda for tonight’s Council meeting (not posted to the City’s website, but available here as Item VI on the Agenda), there is an item labeled “Presentation – Marriott Cash Call.” Well, the LYCDC isn’t wasting any time bellying up to the bar, is it? At least when it comes to asking for a further infusion of taxpayer funds.
It will be interesting to hear what comes out of this presentation. I hope that Council – or the public, since Council is currently not looking at things too critically, asks some important questions.
What exactly are the prospects for the hotel under the new proposed deal? How much will the new investment be, and for what purposes? How much for operating subsidies, how much for current maintenance, how much for capital improvement? Also, importantly, is the Wyndham/Marshall deal the best we could attract?
Oh, and one more question, how is it that the Wyndham/Marshall deal was selected without the LYCDC having conducted a formal, public bidding process?
According to LYCDC Board member Michael McGrath, as discussed on a Facebook page yesterday, the Board did not engage in a formal bid process. It did not publicize the upcoming expiration of the Marriott agreement with a Request for Proposals. Those companies that did submit proposals – Wyndham, Holiday Inn and DoubleTree according to the Trenton Times – did so either because they were contacted directly by the hotel’s asset management company Acquest, according to Mr. McGrath, or because they saw press accounts such as this Trenton Times article from last October.
Public entities in New Jersey – and the Lafayette Yard Board is most definitely a public entity – are supposed to conduct bidding and purchasing in an open and public fashion. This hasn’t been done with the upcoming brand and management change. I don’t know why, and would suggest that this be addressed by Council and the public in open session.
Might the current deal on the table with Wyndham have been improved had they, or another company gone through a truly open and competitive bidding process? I can’t say.
But the fact that such a process was not followed in this instance makes me much more skeptical of the kind of request for more taxpayer aid as Council will hear tonight. This “Cash Call” needs to be evaluated in the context of the present hotel management and Board being far less open and transparent in their business dealings than the people of Trenton have a right to expect.