TOPEKA (KSNT) – County leaders approved a letter of intent Thursday to spend $1 million on pre-planning efforts tied to renovation work at the Maner Conference Centre.
Shawnee County commissioners met on April 23 to discuss several items. One item they took action on was to approve a letter regarding the scope and estimated budget for renovation work at the conference center in central Topeka.
Commissioners are looking to make repairs to the building as the City of Topeka prepares to hand over ownership of the Hotel Topeka property to Endeavor Hotel Group. Both the city and Endeavor have been waiting for county commissioners to give their approval to this letter of intent for the conference center prior to Endeavor taking over the hotel.
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Shawnee County Commissioner Bill Riphahn told 27 News that action taken on Thursday is one more step necessary for important renovation work to take place at the conference center.
“What we’re doing is just kind of laying out an agreement so that we can study the scope of work we’re gonna need,” Riphahn said. “This may involve some architects and engineers looking at the building and giving us kind of a direction or roadmap for the future. That’s what this is all about.”
Riphahn said he expects the renovation process to start soon. He said the county is also closing in on signing final agreements connected to the renovation work at the conference center.
“Maner Conference Centre needs some love, and so that’s what all this is about,” Riphahn said. “It’s the preliminary steps for doing some renovations.”
Roy Arnold, president and CEO of Endeavor Hotel Group, submitted a letter to the commission prior to the meeting showing that $1 million in funds is needed for preconstruction services related to the conference center. This cash is meant to support design development, engineering, cost estimating and other pre-construction work.
“We are pleased to hear of the continued collaboration regarding the Maner Conference Center,” said City of Topeka spokesman Dan Garrett. “This is a major step in staying with the current deadline for the inspection period for Hotel Topeka, ending on May 15, and the deadline to close in June. Those dates are not impacted.”
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Shawnee County commissioners previously approved $63,500 for repairs at the conference center in December last year after it experienced A/C issues during a period of warm weather. You can watch the full meeting of the Shawnee County Commission from April 23 by clicking here.
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