9 June 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT)- Commissioner Aaron Mays joined the 27 News Morning show to provide some updates and comments regarding city projects, initiatives and headlines.
On Wednesday, June 7, the City of Topeka made the winning, $7.6 million bid for the Hotel Topeka located right next to the Stormont Vail Events Center.
The Stormont Vail Events Center is a massive asset to the city of Topeka, bringing people in from all over the country for events and conferences. Additionally, Shawnee County owns both the Stormont Vail Events Center and the Maner Conference Center, so they encourage the success of these properties.
“The success of that hotel is very important to us,” Commissioner Aaron Mays said.
He explained that the same person that owns the hotel, also works to operate the Maner Conference Center. This means that the city, or whoever the city hires to manage the hotel, will be working directly with the county.
“I am going to be the City of Topeka’s biggest cheerleader on this,” Commissioner Mays said.
He said that it is his understanding that the city will not be owning the property for long. They will either be selling it to a private operator, or management company to take over operations.
“I think the great thing about this though, is they can control the future of that asset,” Mays said. “We’ve got plenty of examples in Topeka of buildings that have gone on auction and have been sold to these out-of-state, real-estate investment trusts which just run them into the ground.”
Mays provided Sumner Elementary School as an example.
“Sumner school is a perfect example of what happens when an important property in Topeka gets sold to the highest bidder,” he said.
For this reason, Commissioner Mays wants nothing but success for the Hotel Topeka.
“I think it’s really important, the success of that building, should be important to everyone right now.”
In addition to speaking on the purchase of the Hotel Topeka, Commissioner Mays also spoke on the Oakland pool, his acceptance into an institute in Washington, the latest member of the Washburn Board of Regents and Dump Day.
For more information, you can watch the full interview above.