" I do not understand why they keep building hotels but there is still no competetion for wal-mart, we need other shopping areas. Hotels are not helping the Coles County environment and we need more places to shop and do away with the monoply Wal mart has "

" Save your money and buy into a franchise like Target, Best Buy, Pet Smart, Dicks Sporting Goods for Mattoon. "

" Yeah... That's just what this town needs... another place full of crap from China. And maybe in the process we can run another local business into the ground....oh wait... we have already done that!! I don't know if there are any left. As far as the Convention Center is concerned...I wonder how much of the taxpayers money will be sunk in that venture. "

" So who is/are the "Mattoon Hotel and Convention Center,developers of the project"? Schultz? "

" Just what we need. Another hotel that will sit around empty 360 days a year.


As mentioned already what this area really needs is some more choices when it comes to retail shopping. For the most part it is Wal Mart or Wal Mart. Also with D&W closing down we also could use a family dining establishment or two. "

" WOW!! I continue to be amazed at the comments I read here. First, hotels definitely contribute to the viability for any area. Not only do they create jobs, they "stall" people in the area for a day or two who in turn SPEND MONEY!!!! Second, Target, Best Buy, PetSmart and Dick's Sporting Goods are not franchises. They are corporations which are publically traded. It is the corporation that decides where they go and where they do not go. These stores do not come to the area because there are not enough people to support them. Be happy for some type of growth. There are many areas (take a look at some communities in Michigan for instance) that have no growth whatsoever. These communities are losing people by the masses and they are withering away. Would you instead prefer to see this happen? In such a crappy economy, why not welcome any type of business that will bring in revenue which will ultimately be used for continued growth. Oh but I forgot.....we can't use taxpayers money to promote growth because it causes too much of a stir among taxpayers that have no idea how ecomomics works. "

" If you build it - they will come. LOL "

" exresident.....please be kind enough to explain to us economics challenged residents how another motel is going to do much for this area. We have motel rooms out the wazzoo now. We have had conference centers in the past, and look at what that has done. Nothing. "

" Darn it, T, ya beat me to it!
LOL! "

" With pleasure Jim1969. The first, and last, lesson will show that a hotel sitting empty for 360 days a year will not be in business for very long. One example of this is the Ramada Inn. It's in a poor location (not close to the interstate), and the management was horrible. The others, on the other hand, have been in business for quite some time, and every time I come rolling into Mattoon off of I-57, there are plenty of cars in their parking lots. One difference that the convention center will bring will be, well, a convention center. Regardless of whether or not there has been a convention center in Mattoon before (I'm not aware of one if there ever was), current conditions obviously are showing that the community could benefit from having one. You have to remember that Coles County has a large community college (one of the best in the State), a regional university, a regional hospital, an airport (it's small, but its existence is a huge plus for supporting growth) and other businesses that could benefit from such a place. Outside of the business events that would happen there, a convention center is also a place that can bring a community together (community seminars, holiday events, community sponsored movies, events for children and teens, etc). The services and businesses in Coles County have been either sustained or recruited by a lot of hard-working individuals, and when this work is undermined, I cant help but stand up and support them in what they have done to set Coles County apart from the rest. "

" All of the people who will be coming to town to see the fancy new fountain in the middle of the mall will need a place to stay! "

" Midniterider2245 wrote on Nov 18, 2009 2:37 PM:
" Yeah... That's just what this town needs... another place full of crap from China. And maybe in the process we can run another local business into the ground....oh wait... we have already done that!! I don't know if there are any left. As far as the Convention Center is concerned...I wonder how much of the taxpayers money will be sunk in that venture. "

Here's a thought how about a suggestion to help the city's economy instead of shooting down every idea anyone has. "

" Maybe the people on here posting all of these comments about the stuff these two towns (mattoon and charleston) are trying to help or improve on take their laptops and butts to the new convention center and talk about it there instead of on here ! "

" I guess I didn't realize that Mattoon was such a tourist place that we need
6, 7, or 8 however many motel's we have now.We need more of a varity of shopping and dining. "

" So who is/are the "Mattoon Hotel and Convention Center,developers of the project"? Schultz? "

If Schultz is involved, you had better believe he will be using tax payer money. He always does. "

" Did you notice Keller in Effingham on the convention center here in news, and he will put some dough in this, and why? Because Effingham is not wanting Rosebud, so let me see in my crystal ball. A ROSEBUD ENTERTAINMENT WILL END UP IN THIS NEW CENTER. WATCH. Keller and others are in the hotels and food places in Effingham. Three fiends, and myself wanted rental in Effingham but it was in CONFLICT with what Keller and others were invested. WE weren't able to get ours off the ground in Effingham.
The rental was $3000 month and 10% of profits,,,,,that would be a lot of work before we would see a profit. In Mattoon, we were black listed due to someone who had two eateries, and we could not get the RED LOBSTER franchise in Mattoon/Charleston on the land closer to Sarah Bush Hospital area.
ADDING a TARGET was in the plan as an addition to the Red Lobster, firewall between the areas. The planning was have options in shopping. We had backers for it all to the tune of $600,000 and not be in taxpayers pockets. We had locals to build it and not out of towners. How much of this $20million, going into the rich pockets already lined at taxpayers expenses.
My crystal ball tells me, this convention center is another scam to fleece the public, and Ramada Inn was to be the center hosting meetings. AND it sits like an elephant in the graveyard. South of Mattoon was to host meetings and business men stay there and eat in their restaurant, and it DIDN'T FLY EITHER. Even nothing can fly at the coles airport,,,,,this all should be huge red WARNING SIGNS.
We should name it WALKING EAGLE. In my ancesters words this means BIRD SO FULL OF SXXT IT CANT FLY. Don't lookup folks, Coles about to be hit with higher taxes to support this PXXPBALL. "

" Wow, some of you are all completely naive of everything. From the way I understand what TIF is, it is a program where property taxes are abated for the first several years, usually 10. Along with that most of the time the schools part of the property taxes, this case mattoon would not allow them to take the taxes off the bill. So they would still have to pay that. If I am not mistaken.

As far as empty hotels, what a joke, they are always busy. Girls State, Boys State, EIU Homecoming, Parents Weekend, the Corvette show in Effingham (that packs everywhere including Mattoon), Baglefest, and I'm sure many more weekends that people need to stay when visiting family (such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and 4th of July which are all hardcore travel weeks) or just plain driving down the road for vacation or work. And that is 11 weeks that those hotels will see a lot of business.

As for the airport comment, our airport is big enough to support the landing of Air Force One. That means you can land almost any type of aircraft, because when they built it they poured thicker concrete, reinforced it, as well as made the runways longer.

Oh wait, and its going to create 200 construction jobs and 100 permanent. That sounds pretty darn good. Oh wait if we get FutureGen, where are those construction people going to stay? "

" Hotel/convention center? Cool! More LOW paying service sector jobs for the area! "

" Mattoon """" Wake up !!!!
The people of Mattoon should have some Enthusiasm with this news...
The fact that any one would be willing to spend thousands or millions of dollars in your city at such a critical time should be some thing to be proud of...
No doubt this convention center will be able to host events that are currently be held in other citys.
Take a look around and look at what you as a citizen can do to help Mattoon be a better functioning city,and if investors want to come in and help build your city,be happy instead of brow beating them before they even start.Lets look at the possibilitys here..
Sullivan and the Shelbyville lake area bring Motor home and camper shows to the area not to mention boat shows and the possibilitys of some major fishing and hunting expos there.Then there is the Atv,Utv and motorcycle shows that could be held in your area .not to mention that there are pool (Billards) tournaments that the pool leagues housed there put on and have to go out of town because there is no where large enough.There could be Ice skating events and possibly other events such as music concerts or road shows that could come for entertainment.It will provide places like Sarah bush health center to have enough room to have their Christmas party in Mattoon instead of at the college in Charelston where there is very little parking.There are also amateur mixed martial arts events that are popping up in Effingham and Decatur that might decide to come to your city . There are civil gov. functions that require large venues such as police training and fire training ,emergency services training that can be housed in this convention center.If you just open your mind and keep your hand on your wallet you might come up with some other good ideas and it won't cost you a dime...
Just Blowing!! "

" Why do people need to be entertained all the time? Ever hear of being home, family, movies, popcorn, and homecooking? The people coming for events bring RVs and not staying in hotels.
They buy walmart groceries and eat in RVs, and there isn't RV parking fee.
None of the airlines want to land on Mattoon airport, due to passengers, fuel, and the economy no matter how much concrete is there. Not even as a stopover. I know someone who flies and he cannot land at Coles,,,, runway isn't long enough. He doesn't wanna messup his expensive plane nor passengers (his family).

Citizens don't have money to spend at a mattoon convention center. This is like building a 20 bedroom house for family of four. Then scream when Coles Moultrie and Amerens bills show up on the scene and more screaming.
The remodeling of old hotels reminds me of the 80 year old woman having plastic surgery on face, hands, fat trim, boob job, and varicose veins fixed, and to the tune of $60,000. Like being a Dolly P wannabe on 80 year old but will give the nursing home residents something to point and laugh about. "

" You know that you are going to need that new hotel space and convention space for all of the people that will come to see FUTURGEN!!! "

" Change and Adapt. Two words that people are afraid of. Without it nothing gets better. Things stay the same...which in this recession is getting worse by the day. How many people get secure about the way things are done,and are too afraid to accept change. Why? Fear of the unknown? Fear of failure? Afraid to ask Questions and learn from experiences? Hotel/Lodging taxes bring in tons of money to an ecconomy. Look at your Hotel bill next time you stay.

Ex Resident..I couldnt be in more agreement. We should be welcome this with open arms. As for jobs...They are jobs that were not possible without this. Neo....maybe they are beneath you...but to someone else this could be a life changer. 1 job gets another person off unemployment or welfare. Thats one more person doing their share contributing to our community. "

" First of all I want to say how surprised I am at all the negative comments about this opportunity for Coles County. Any type of business and economic growth should be welcomed to our area, especially during this economic climate. Mattoon has done a very nice job cleaning up the east side of town and is continuing to expand. If Mattoon is to ever build more shopping locations, a larger and more abundant mall, nicer restaurants, etc., we need to continue expanding and attracting people to our area. What better way is there to attract out of town individuals, investors, and companies to Mattoon than to have a nice, large hotel and convention center to host events.

Mama says, how would a Rosebud-like entertainment area be bad for Mattoon? You say the people of Mattoon cant afford the entertainment? How will we ever be able to afford anything better if we simply maintain what we currently have? Take, for example, a Rosebud-like entertainment at the convention center. This would bring in out-of-town people, causing them to buy fuel here, hotel rooms, shop at our stores, etc. All of this would increase revenues and attract even more businesses. More businesses equals more competition. More competition equals more demand for the best employees, which in turn equals higher paying jobs. This is how Mattoon is going to grow and prosper in the future. You need to look at these opportunities on the large scale and see how they are going to benefit the community as a whole (not only how you have no interest in going to one hotel or convention center), which in turn will attract even more businesses (one of which you might like).

As far as the comment that said something about Wal-Mart needing competition because they are the highest priced Wal-Mart in the area, that comes with very little validity as well. First, Wal-Mart will ad-match any sale item. This itself causes Wal-Mart to be at or below the price of all competitors in the area. Remember once upon a time when there was a direct competitor to Wal-Mart right across the street (K-Mart)? Companies are not stupid; they know that they will not be able to beat Wal-Mart, at least not right now. Wal-Mart has a sustainable competitive advantage in this area and other large retailers dont wish to come only to fail. Give our town some time to grow and then maybe we will see some of the larger companies come in once we prove that we can support other large retailers. "

" 1. Walmart had competion but the majority of people chose to spend their money at Walmart so the competion closed.

2. Some of the morons in town think the city prevents new restaurants, but anyone with a ltiile common sense knows they do not build here beacuse they do not think they can make a profit in Mattoon. Maybe a few new hotels will provide enough people for a good new reastaurant to take a chance.

3. I hear complaints all the time from customers that they have to stay out of town in Effingham, Tuscola, etc. beacuse all the rooms in Mattoon and Charleston are full. "

" When My Dad died on Memorial weekend of 2007 we had to stay in Effingham because there were no rooms in Cartoon. Although to you all that is probably a long drive, to us it is not a big deal as it takes a minimum of 30 minutes to get anywhere around here. Usually longer depending on traffic. "

" Good to see several posters calling out all the nay-sayers who only like to b and moan about how bad things are, nothing will work, it's the city's fault, etc. This is a great project and opportunity for Mattoon.

To Mama Says: I call BS. I doubt if your plans ever existed before you sat down to the keyboard. Prove your connections to Red Lobster, Target, $600,000 in backing (which would not finance a project that you suggest) and your project plan using local contractors. "