David Doss
Samson Developers, headed by David Doss of Rome, has until early November to buy half the 4.4-acre city-owned tract between Barron Stadium and the Oostanaula River. That would also trigger an 18-month option on the remaining land.
Current plans call for Duke Hospitality, a Mariott-approved management company, to own and operate a five-story hotel with 105 to 120 rooms on the first site.
Floyd County Commissioner Garry Fricks said the hotelier has approached the county about modernizing The Forum and giving Duke control of the scheduling. The idea is to market the hotel and the publicly owned convention center together.
“They think tieing into The Forum will be integral to their success, and I think it would be successful for us both,” Fricks said.
The nearly 20-year-old facility would need some work, though, and Fricks said it’s a question of what’s financially feasible.
“Their thought is that changing the ‘gymnasium look’ to a conference center look is going to require some upgrading,” he said. “We’ve shared our numbers with them, and now we’re waiting for a proposal.”
Doss said there’s always been the assumption that a hotel of that size would include a working relationship with The Forum.
“It seems to be good business, and it would allow them to better market The Forum,” he said. “They could take a facility with a long history as a money-loser and bring it to at least the break-even point.”
It also would benefit other local hotels, Doss said, by expanding the type of conventions that would be interested in Rome.
Architects and builders for Duke examined The Forum last week to calculate what it would take to upgrade the look. Doss said the painted concrete block walls, utilitarian bathrooms and worn carpeting are issues.
“And the technology of the last 20 years has passed by the meeting rooms,” he noted. “It’s all pretty institutional — not the thing you’d associate with an upscale meeting facility.”
Doss said an agreement with the county is integral to the redevelopment plan.
“I don’t know that it’s a deal-breaker, but it certainly could have a significant impact,” he said.
The mentality many of you have is regressive and bad for business. A proposal to Limit Government and manage a loser of a facility that Doss himself was against in location alone years ago, and now he wants to make lemonade.....
If you want limited Jobs, Limited Opportunity, and Maximum Exposure to Property increases and poverty in the future, the Haters are your choice RNT readers......
Rome is going to become Albany if you keep up this pace ACCT101 and other like minded people....
Please give us your real name because I don't ever want you to do my taxes or give me financial advice.
Let's see. 20 years ago, Doss tried to tell everybody that the location of the Forum would be a financial disaster for the County. The Chamber of Commerce even sued him to force the location down our throats. And for the past 20 years, the Forum has lost an average of $500,000 per year. That's $10 Million tax payer dollars Mr. acct101 genius. Now Doss is trying to bring a $13 million dollar hotel investment to Rome and create 50 jobs and hopefully turn a $500,000 a year loss into a break even situation for the county taxpayers. And all you want to do is bash the guy? What is the basis for your hate towards Doss? Did he take your lunch money in the 3rd grade for Christ's sake? What ever your problem is, get over it Dude!
And just so we will know, tell everybody what acct101 has ever done for Rome and Floyd County. Tell us about your public service. Tell us about your civic contributions, organizations you are involved with, groups that you have helped. As I see it, all you want to do is bash any and everything Doss does. For me, I want to thank him for trying to make our community a better place.
You just showed everyone your true character. All mouth and no backbone. I suggest you don't opine about someone else's character unless you're ready to supply the proof to back it up. Only an insecure person hides behind their screen name while throwing rocks at someone else. Cluck, Cluck, Cluck
This is rather ironic, because I remember that old photo of Jack Dickey and Doss paddling a boat at the site of the forum.
I'm looking forward to more hysterical wagon town suggestions from you.