Published: November 12, 2008 09:41 am      

9:23 a.m. Lala pitches hotel to the public

Abdul Lala and employees of Lala Enterprises pitched their plans for a large downtown development to the public this morning at the Quality Inn on Roebuck Dr.

Lala wants to build a large Hyatt Place franchise hotel and 1,000 person banquet hall downtown near the police station to partner with the Riley Center in bringing convention business to Meridian - but there's a catch. Lala said there is not enough room for two hotels downtown, and that he will not build the hotel if the city chooses to go ahead with the Threefoot hotel project as it is currently planned.

Project manager Dede Mongollon pitched Lala's ideas to locals today. She said that in addition to hotel and banquet space, the facility would include on site parking, along with a possible Starbucks, sundry shop, and gift shop.

The development would cost $30 million dollars, and none of it would be put up by the taxpayers. For the Threefoot project, the city would have to make an investment of more than $14 million in bonds.

Mongollon suggested that the Threefoot building be developed into retirement housing rather than a hotel.

She said Lala enterprises has so far had a "mixed response" from the city, who like the idea of not investing any taxpayer money, but do not like the idea of giving up on historical preservation. The Hyatt place would be all new construction and would require the demolition of several downtown buildings.

Look for more on this story in tomorrow's Meridian Star.