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Hotel to build convention center Rogue Regency Inn seeks plan OK By DAVID PRESZLER Jackson County's space crunch for conventions will likely get some relief from an expansion project at a Medford hotel, but tourism officials say the need for more space and an even larger center remains strong. The Rogue Regency Inn plans to build a convention center that will accommodate 550 people in theater-style seating. Plans for the center and an 81-room expansion go before Medford's Site Plan and Architectural Commission on Friday. If approved, construction is scheduled to begin in early June with the convention center open by December and the additional rooms ready by next February, according to Regency owner Scott McCollum. "We've been working at it for a number of years to build something that meets the market's needs," said McCollum. With the expansion, the Regency would join the Reston Inn in Medford, the DoubleTree Hotel in Medford and Windmill's Ashland Hills Inn as the valley's biggest convention spaces. Those three seat 800-900 in their largest rooms. Officials who work to bring conventions to the area say the Regency's expansion is a step in the right direction but a larger step remains to be made. "It is definitely a positive for the community but there's still a need," said Julie Petretto, director of the Chamber of Medford/Jackson County Visitors and Convention Bureau. "We have to turn away a number of events and conventions because we don't have the convention space." Petretto estimated that the area lost $7.9 million in revenue last year because it lacked convention space with the needed size and versatility for larger groups. The idea of a larger center in Southern Oregon has been debated off and on for years, but there are questions about whether there would be enough big conventions to justify it. "If it had to work on its own merit, it would be difficult to run in the black," said Todd Thoreson, general manager of the DoubleTree Hotel in Medford and chairman of the visitor's bureau board of directors. Medford Mayor Lindsay Berryman said building such a center would likely require some sort of public-private partnership and that, while many like the concept, the support to make it a reality isn't there in the near future. "It's my sense that the business community isn't pushing it hard right now," she said. Berryman, Thoreson and others said the most practical route might be a multi-use facility for concerts and large sporting events as well as conventions. While Jackson County looked at the possibility of building a facility like that at the Expo a few years back, no plans for it emerged. Until that kind of plan does emerge, Petretto said the area will miss out on large conventions, and the money they bring. "Those groups don't even look at us because they know we don't have the facilities to support them," she said. McCollum said he looked at building a larger facility at the Rogue Regency but wasn't convinced there was enough business to support it. "(Centers) are fairly expensive to build at that size." he said. "The sheer number of those conventions doesn't warrant the expenditure. It wouldn't make financial sense." "What we found in the Northwest was that a meeting place of 450 or so would match 90 percent of what's out there," he said. The proposed plan calls for the restaurant and lounge to be expanded as part of the convention space, which would be built to the northeast of the existing building. The new rooms, to be built on the western end, would bring the hotel's total to 123. With the space, McCollum is confident the Regency can compete with the area's more established convention sites. "We have a pretty premier site here -- next to the airport and Interstate 5," he said. "Those things aren't going to change." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA