Overview

Howard County, City of Kokomo, Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance and Howard County CVC seek to construct a 120-room hotel with an adjoining 40,000 sq ft conference center. The hotel will be operated by a private developer and the conference center will be operated by the City of Kokomo. The facility will be located in the City’s tourism district and will take approximately two years to complete. The conference center will include space that can be used for conferences, exhibitions, meetings and social events and will also have space available to house the Kokomo Automotive Museum collection of historic automobiles. The City of Kokomo has ownership and control of the land being made available for this development opportunity. This project will develop an underutilized vacant lot within the downtown. The READI funds will be used for the construction of the facility. The City of Kokomo has committed $3 million, Howard County Convention and Visitors Commission has committed $1.5 million, Howard County has committed $500,000 and a private developer has committed $20.8 million to the project. The Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance is negotiating with a private developer to invest $20.8 million in the project. The project was publicly bid and has an estimated completion date 12/31/2025. The project was delayed by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.