2nd thoughts on Provo project

For the first time in four years, at least one Utah County commissioner is rethinking plans to build a convention center in Provo.

Less than a year ago, Commissioner Steve White was part of a unanimous vote that raised the county's transient room tax in order to garner funds for a potential county-run convention center in Provo. At a groundbreaking event for a different convention center in Pleasant Grove on Friday, however, White's determination to see the county project through faltered.

"I don't have a vested position one way or the other after what's happened today," White said. "This changes the mix, and now we need to find out how it changes the mix."

Utah County and Provo paid about $110,000 for a study in 2005 that determined Provo was an ideal location for a convention center because of its proximity. At that time, the study said there was a distinct need for a convention facility in the area because no other convention centers exist in Utah Valley.

Since then, discussion to form an interlocal agreement between Provo and Utah County has been in the works. Provo has purchased land that could be used for a convention facility, said Provo City Council Chairman George Stewart, but an official agreement has not been made.

"Speaking for Provo, we want a conference center here," Stewart said. "I think the county has to be sure that it's still feasible to do, given this additional facility that will be in the area, assuming that project will start."

Stewart said John Q. Hammons, who is developing the Embassy Suites Pleasant Grove Hotel, Convention Center and Spa, has attempted to build a hotel in Utah County other times, but the projects did not come to fruition. The fact that Hammons ceremoniously broke ground on his Pleasant Grove project on Friday has given White pause, but Stewart voiced some skepticism about the project's completion.

"John Q., in the past, has gone to this point and then come back and asked for more money," Stewart said. "So we'll have to see if he does this before he starts construction. ... We'll know for sure it's a competitive facility the day they start construction. Certainly (the Pleasant Grove convention center) is moving in that direction, but I think we'll know (what will happen) within another month or so. That's the one remaining thing that we'll all wait and see."

Hammons announced Friday that construction on the hotel will begin at the end of September or the beginning of October. Although Utah County's study denotes Provo as a prime convention location, Hammons stands firmly by his choice of Pleasant Grove.