Backstreet Boys look at fronting money for hotel

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Sep 13, 2000 Source: The Huntsville Times Submitted By: Popular singing group may invest in project proposed for downtown 09/12/00 By GINA HANNAH and CHRIS WELCH Staff Writers It was a somewhat unlikely cast of characters that met behind closed doors in the Von Braun Center conference room Monday: city officials, a local financial planner, a hotel development group - and a member of the Backstreet Boys. If they'd been invited, thousands of young females would have screamed. Business leaders in Huntsville might have been pretty excited, too. The reason? For about four hours starting at noon, Kevin Richardson, one of the members of the popular singing group, and other group representatives talked about the possibility of spending money on a convention hotel in the Rocket City. A lot of money. The Backstreet Boys are looking for investments, and a convention hotel downtown seems to look like a fine place for them to sink some cash. "You know, we do more than just sing and dance," Richardson said. "We've got a brain, too." City officials, developers and band representatives stressed that Monday's meeting was only for preliminary discussion. But if the deal happens, Memphis-based Peabody Hotel Group would build a hotel, complete with meeting rooms and restaurants, beside the Von Braun Center. Talks, search preliminary Peabody representatives would not name a specific location for the hotel, but said they have looked at several sites, all in the central downtown area. "We're just very preliminarily looking at a couple of possible hotel sites that are available," said Bruce Burrow, a principal of Belz Burrow Development Group. He said he was unsure when a final decision may be made. Richardson, who is from Louisville, and the other representatives of the Backstreet Boys were here because they're represented by a local financial consultant, Rick Baker of Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter. Baker is also a financial consultant for the hot group 98 Degrees. Johnny Dorough, vice president of Sweet D Inc. (''Sweet D'' is the nickname for Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough) was also here, as was Heather Richards, business manager for Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. Others in the group, who were not at the meeting, are Brian Littrell and A.J. McLean. ''We're looking at various projects and opportunities at lots of cities around the United States," said Richardson, who sported long hair, a mustache and goatee and wore a black leather jacket. Once outside the VBC, he donned his New York Yankees baseball cap. ''Our new album is coming out in November, and we'll get a tour together after it comes out. Right now, we're just resting and exploring different projects." Richardson and his bandmates - together one of the biggest pop music groups in the world since they released their debut album in 1997 - are known for such hits as ''Larger Than Life,'' ''Everybody" and "Quit Playing Games with My Heart." The group has sold more than 28 million albums nationwide, scored five Top Ten singles and released a multiplatinum full-length video. The Backstreet Boys were also nominated for a ''Best New Artist'' Grammy and named among Entertainment Weekly's ''Best Entertainers of 1998.'' Group members have quietly visited Huntsville before during breaks in their concert schedule. Richardson said he writes music with Gary Baker, who lives in the Muscle Shoals area, and he comes through here from time to time. What does Richardson think of Huntsville? ''I think they've got a nice civic center here. It would be nice to see a hotel in this area,'' he said. The hotel would have between 300 and 350 rooms, plus meeting rooms and restaurants, said Martin S. Belz, chairman of Peabody Hotel Group, a division of Belz Burrow. The hotel group owns and manages hotels throughout the United States. Current Peabody projects include the expansion of Peabody Place in Memphis, with the addition of retail, office and residential space, and the renovation of a hotel in Little Rock, Ark. The company also plans to add 1,000 rooms to a 900-room hotel in Orlando. The Huntsville project could be built with the help of local and state financial incentives, officials said. Spencer: new tax district Mayor Loretta Spencer said the city could create another a tax increment district, where the city pays for public improvements and recoups its money from the net increase in property tax revenues from new development. Spencer has said her goal is to announce a hotel in a tax increment district by the first of the year. "We've just had our initial talks, and they're (Peabody) one of the developers we've talked to," she said. Hotel idea nothing new City leaders have tried for years to lure a convention hotel downtown. In 1994, the city tried to enter a partnership to build a $24 million Embassy Suites hotel south of where the VBC South Hall now stands. The council agreed to spend $6.9 million to build the first floor of the hotel, but later withdrew after coming under pressure for spending public money in such a way. The city has used tax increment financing twice this year - at Westside Pavilion on University Drive west of Rideout Road and for the redevelopment of Parkway City Mall. Another tax increment district has been discussed to help build two high schools in the city. The developers said they had considered building a hotel at Market Square Mall on Memorial Parkway, but had eliminated that site from the list. Developer Scott McLain, whose father, Gene McLain, owns the mall, said his father wanted to enter a partnership to build the hotel, but the developers weren't interested. "If a hotel is built in downtown Huntsville, having it along Memorial Parkway makes a lot of sense," McLain said. Comment on this item. Next Item: Pollyanna to put on FREE concert in Orlando/Kissimmee Prev Item: BSB donates huge whopper to SAG