KOKOMO TRIBUNE
•
SATURDAY, SEPT. 29, 2018
1217 S. Courtland Avenue
Kokomo, IN 46902
(765) 457-4255 |
Times of Services
Sunday:
Bible Classes 9:30am
Worship: 10:30am & 6pm
Wednesday:
7pm Bible Classes
If you are looking
for a church...
• that teaches the truth from God’s word
• with solid Bible answers
for troubled times
• that is a real family of caring Christians
...I recommend the
The Courtland Avenue Church of Christ
welcomes Mike Thomas and his wife, Steph-
anie to Kokomo. Mike is our new preacher
replacing Joshua Welch who recently moved
to Columbus, Ohio.
Mike and the church are dedicated to
teaching the Bible as written without add-
ing to the Word and omitting nothing.
Churches of Christ are places to hear the
truth without any fanfare. We have no gym-
nasiums to play in; we have no bands to
entertain you, we have no kitchens to cook
your meals for you.
What we do have is a preacher to bring
God’s Word to you. We sing songs of praise
to God. The last thing our Lord told the
apostles to do before He ascended into
heaven was to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. We do
this every Lord’s day by live streaming our
sermons on Facebook and YouTube.
We also post our lessons on our website as
a video and audio that can be downloaded
for you to hear the Word.
Along with the addition of a new
preacher, we offer to one and all a chance
to hear quality preaching from preachers
around Indiana and the country. We have
these week-long series in the spring and
the fall. We invite you to all of our services
if you are tired of attending where gim-
micks are used to entice the good people
of Kokomo to worship and to dig into your
pockets for your hard earned money. We
will never use this tactic for your money.
Giving to the church is strictly dependent
upon the members, and we will never ask
our visitors to give.
As the Bible teaches, we come together on
the first day of the week (every week) to take
the communion. We have bible study every
Sunday morning and every Wednesday eve-
ning to keep us grounded in the truth.
We are not a denomination, which means
to break away from. The church of Christ
is the only church named in the Bible and
authorized by our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Romans 16:16 say “…the Churches
of Christ salute you.”
So, if you are not getting from the denom-
inations, what you need for your salvation,
please visit us. David said in Psalm 122:1, I
was glad when they said to me, “Let us go
into the house of the Lord.”
Church of Christ
welcomes new preacher
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Courtland Avenue Church of Christ
1217 S. Courtland Ave., Kokomo
Phone: 765-457-4255
BY GEORGE MYERS
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
F
or months, Kokomo resi-
dents anticipated the offi-
cial announcement of a
downtown hotel and con-
ference center, knowing all
but a few specific details.
Then, in July, the worst kept
secret in Kokomo was let out
of the bag.
A six-story, 123-room Hilton
Garden Inn and an adjoining
22,000-square-foot conference
center, representing a $26 mil-
lion investment, is coming to
downtown Kokomo.
The announcement was
made in crowded City Hall
council chambers on July 10 by
a mix of city, county, economic
and development officials, who
expect the much-anticipated
project to open in spring 2020
in the block between Main and
Union streets, bordered by Su-
perior Street to the north and
Wildcat Creek to the south.
The extensive development,
set to dominate downtown
Kokomo’s skyline for years to
come, will further bolster an
area that has in recent years
sprouted Kokomo Municipal
Stadium, a luxury apartment
community, increased trail ac-
cess and nightlife opportuni-
ties, popular Geek Street shop-
ping and more.
Included in the project will
be a new 22,000-square-foot
home for the Kokomo Automo-
tive Museum, which vacated its
two-decade site in the Kokomo
Event and Conference Center
in May.
The museum will have a
ground-level entrance but will
be situated on a second level
below the city’s soon-to-be sec-
ond conference center. Because
the parcel slopes toward the
creek, it will include windows
and a direct entrance on the
structure’s south side.
Also moving into the devel-
opment upon its completion
will be the Greater Kokomo
Visitors Bureau, the Greater
Kokomo Chamber of Com-
merce and the Greater
Kokomo Downtown Associa-
tion.
“This hotel and conference
center will allow Kokomo to
compete in attracting new visi-
tors, conferences and events,
while at the same time provid-
ing a fresh, new facility for
those that already know the
value of holding their event in
Kokomo,” said Kokomo Mayor
Greg Goodnight.
“This downtown develop-
ment distinguishes Kokomo
from most other Midwestern
cities with its proximity to
other recent developments like
Municipal Stadium and 306
Riverfront District.”
The hotel and conference
center, renderings show, will
be connected by a bridge that
includes walking space and
meeting rooms.
Development of the project
will be headed by Dora Hotel
Company, an Indiana-based
hotel management firm. The
company’s president, Tim Dora,
said Tuesday he hopes to break
ground on the project this fall.
Notably, the Kokomo Com-
munity Development Corpora-
tion will donate the land to the
private company, city officials
noted.
In an interview after the an-
nouncement, Dora pointed to
Kokomo’s existing hotel market
as a reason to invest in the city.
“I think there’s some very
good product here, but there’s
some product that probably
has lived past its prime,” he
said. “In our experiences at the
other cities we’ve done this, we
can go in and build a really
high-quality product and then
lead the market.
“And we’ve found that the
customer base responds to it
and we’ll do well.”
The hotel, which will feature
a full-service restaurant, will
benefit from the growth of
downtown Kokomo, said Dora.
Therefore, his company isn’t
looking to revolutionize the
city but instead “keep the
wheel rolling and get it rolling
a little faster.”
Still, Kokomo is different
than West Lafayette, which has
Purdue, or other mid-size Indi-
ana or Midwestern cities with
similar landmarks.
But the conference center,
from a hotel manager’s per-
spective, could close that gap.
“On this project, I’m really
confident on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday nights.
Our corporate will be great,”
he said, describing business
travelers. “On leisure (week-
ends), I’m more concerned be-
cause I need reasons to come
here for families or events.
“But by virtue of having the
conference center, we can do
weddings, we can do lots of
meetings, we can do a lot of
weekend festivals, trade shows,
all those kinds of things that
would supplement maybe
some weakness on the leisure
side.”
To make room for the hotel
and conference center, efforts
are underway to vacate the
block that currently houses the
downtown CityLine trolley stop
and Kokomo Howard County
Governmental Coordinating
Council (KHCGCC) offices be-
tween Main and Union streets.
Both will be moved to 219 E.
Sycamore St., next to City Hall.
Already relocated from the
same block is the Indiana De-
partment of Revenue’s Kokomo
district office, now at 124 W.
Superior St.
The building that housed the
DOR office but still contains
the KHCGCC and a trolley stop
waiting area will eventually be
torn down, Goodnight previ-
ously acknowledged.
And the automotive museum,
said Howard County Commis-
sioner Paul Wyman, will call
the conference center home for
the “next 50 to 100 years.”
The museum’s director of de-
velopment, Jeff Shively, was no
less excited, despite the reduc-
tion in display space.
“It’s going to be something
unique,” he noted. “My personal
goal is to make it something
where you can go from New
York to California and you
won’t see something quite like
this.
“Because that’s what we’ve
got to do. We’ve got to look at
this thing beyond Howard
County, bringing in people
from all over the country. We
already had people from 40
states come to our museum;
let’s go for 10 more.”
Shively called the expected
layout “very different” from the
museum’s previous offerings. In
fact, he said, a collection of gal-
leries will be laid out with a di-
rect focus on the incorporation
of technology.
“The goal is very high-tech.
We want to integrate a lot of
technology into it because that’s
where museums are going,” he
said. “We’re going away from
rows of cars lined up to inter-
pretive things. It’s going to be a
lot more interpretive; it’s going
to be entirely a different experi-
ence.”
PROJECT TO DOMINATE SKYLINE
HILTON GARDEN INN, CONFERENCE CENTER COMING TO DOWNTOWN KOKOMO
COMING SOON:
This rendering shows the new Hilton Garden Inn
and conference center, which will be located between Union and
Main streets along Superior Street.
COMMERCE
SPOTLIGHT
