Oct. 8—CHEYENNE — The acting director of the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority confirmed Friday that the “hole” on West Lincolnway, next to the Hynds Building, has been purchased.
Domenic Bravo told members of the Cheyenne City Council during a work session that the buyer, who has not yet been disclosed, is in the process of working through architectural plans related to use of the space.
The property has sat vacant, covered by a fence, since a 2004 fire consumed Mary’s Bake Shoppe and damaged surrounding buildings.
Bravo said the building expected to be erected at the site will match the architecture of the Hynds Building. The ground level would be retail space, and there’s the possibility that the upper floors will be used as office space and mid-level to high-end condominiums.
However, after the meeting, Bravo spoke by phone with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and only went as far to say the space has been purchased and that the buyer is partnering with Cheyenne LEADS and the city on developing the property.
Also during Friday’s work session, Bravo, who also is chief executive officer of Visit Cheyenne, the local convention and tourism bureau, shared the results of the combined entity’s 2021 fiscal report, as well as the status of major projects.
DDA and Visit Cheyenne are in the midst of a two-year trial merger to try to reduce overhead and streamline operations.
On the other side of the bench, council members Tom Segrave and Pete Laybourn made sure to express their concerns during the meeting. Segrave questioned Bravo on the DDA’s capability to get the 15th Street Railroad Experience off the ground, and whether the development should be supervised by another entity.
He also inquired on the current status of electric Bird Scooters distributed around town, asking if there was some way to better store the scooters, rather than have them left on the sidewalk.
Laybourn was more critical, expressing his displeasure surrounding the temporary merger of the DDA and Visit Cheyenne in 2021, which is scheduled to be nullified if the contract is not extended or made permanent by next July.
Laybourn argues that the merging of the two entities currently goes against state statute. He emphasized his point by asking City Attorney Stefanie Boster to provide legal analysis surrounding the merger.
“The DDA is an animal of state statute, so we’re restricted in a large sense by state law in terms of what changes we can make to city ordinance,” Boster said. “We’ve got to comply with state statute.”
When asked if a proposal to permanently merge complied with state statute, Boster said it did not.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do there in terms of if we do have an overall merger and what changes we have to make to city ordinance.”
What consumed the majority of the session, however, dealt with issues in the execution surrounding the 15th Street Railroad Experience, and how that task can be successfully undertaken by the DDA and Visit Cheyenne.
The most prominent discussion within the 15th Street Railroad Experience was the theoretical relocating of the Big Boy Steam Engine, currently at the southern edge of Holliday Park, to a space near 15th Street. Bravo told the council that the cost to move Big Boy was roughly estimated to be $250,000.
At the early stages of planning, the only plausible way to move the 600-ton train would be to place temporary tracks along Lincolnway and wheel the train to its new location.
Council members also raised concerns around meeting ADA requirements and streetcar maintenance.
Bravo said that many of the complaints and suggestions from the City Council are welcome, and that the intent of a “feasibility study” is to collect suggestions and alternative options to create a final plan that is advantageous for all.
“The feasibility (study) makes sure to include everything that was suggested and then a true alternative is selected,” Bravo told the WTE. “And from that true alternative, then you start getting the actual construction documents, and then, through that process, it technically also then goes through an even more robust public process.”
These concerns were voiced despite the fact that Visit Cheyenne and the DDA reported, for 2021, what was, by some accounts, the most successful year of tourism the city has experienced since such numbers were first monitored in the early 2000s.
Namely, while Cheyenne Frontier Days experienced a decrease in total attendance, the month of July reported the highest gross lodging tax and highest visitation in the city’s history. Bravo attributed this to the draw of various cultural festivals that were hosted throughout the month surrounding CFD.
A total of $63 million was grossed by the hotel and short-term rental market in Laramie County, with an additional $27 million in state and local taxes generated by tourism, as reported by Visit Cheyenne. So far, the numbers in 2022 are on pace to surpass those reported last year.
One of the current challenges related to tourism infrastructure is that there aren’t enough hotels to accommodate the surge of tourism in Cheyenne at certain times of the year. The council discussed four additional hotels that will be erected in the near future, which Bravo estimated would supply about 500 more rooms.
“I’m biased, but I think that, not just because we’re the capital city and one of the largest cities in Wyoming, that we’re just a powerhouse when it comes to what we can do and what we can deliver,” Bravo said during the work session. “We need to protect that.”
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.
