Like to plan an academic conference but don't know where to book it? A hotel-conference center to be built overlooking the future Center for the Arts is taking reservations for June 2002 and beyond. UC Davis officials say the campus is moving ahead with plans for a center with 150 rooms and 15,000 square feet of meeting space after an independent consultant found it would be economically viable. The center would be privately financed, developed and operated on 4.5 acres of university property along Interstate 80 south of the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center and the environmental horticultural department. Campus officials and faculty members said the center would fill a need on campus for more space to hold conferences and other large meetings. "It's been a missing resource," said Karen Hull, director of Campus Events and Visitors Services. "Basically business has been going elsewhere." Peter Rock, dean of mathematical and physical sciences, said a number of faculty members hold leadership positions in national and international professional organizations but are often unable to host conferences here because of a lack of adequate space. "We're not able in some cases to showcase the university simply because of our inability to put on some conferences," Rock said. "It [the proposed center] is really quite important to the ongoing development and enhancement of the reputation of the campus." Large meetings that have been sponsored by UC Davis have required use of farflung buildings both on and off campus. Several universities in the Midwest and on the East Coast have hotel-conference centers. Hull visited four of them, while PKF conducted case studies of two of those and five others. UC San Diego has also launched plans for a developer-financed hotel-conference center. Other UC campuses have meeting space for conferences and UCLA has a 61-room hotel. However, no UC campus currently has a modern, comprehensive hotel-conference center on its campus, Yates said. "There's nothing comparable in the UC system right now." The idea of building a hotel-conference center at this site arose during planning for the Center for the Arts in 1997, said John Yates, special projects director for the Office of Administration. The hotel center would be located to the east of a new park, with Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center on the north and the Center for the Arts on the west. PKF Consulting, an international firm specializing in the hospitality industry, conducted a market and financial feasibility study over the summer. It submitted a report to the university last month showing enough demand to support a 150-room, 15,000 square-foot center. Yates said getting a thumbs-up from PKF Consulting is like getting a good bond rating and will enable the developer to obtain low-interest financing. The consultants recommended that the hotel be three-star quality, with a full-service restaurant, a conference dining room and meeting rooms. Room prices have yet to be determined. The university will ask prospective developers to submit their qualifications beginning Sept. 24, then ask a select group in mid-November to prepare proposals by Jan. 10. Construction could begin as early as March 2001. The university would maintain ownership of the land and receive fair-market rent from the developer, Yates said, adding, "No university dollars will be invested in this." With meeting space for conferences up to 400 people but guest rooms for 150, the center should create spillover business for other hotels in the region, Yates and others said. Davis currently has about 550 hotel beds. PKF Consulting predicted the campus hotel occupancy rate would average from 65 percent to 75 percent a night, housing close to 40,000 people in a year, Yates said. Its location offers the potential to house even larger conferences. Rooms at the nearby alumni and visitors center, the University Club and Center for the Arts would nearly double the amount of meeting space within close walking distance. Faculty members surveyed by Campus Events and Visitors Services were enthusiastic about prospects for a university conference center. Reactions from local hotel owners ranged from optimism to skepticism, Yates said. One local business leader predicted the center would benefit both the university and the town. "It sounds like it could be a terrific addition to bringing visitors to town and certainly that could be very healthy for the downtown," said Chuck Roe, president of the Davis Chamber of Commerce and a local home builder. "I really think of visitors coming to town as a very clean and good industry. I'm delighted by the idea." "I think it's in everybody's interest to have visitors come into town, to go to our theaters, to eat at our restaurants and buy books at our bookstores," said Roe, whose Pyramid Construction company developed the Aggie Village neighborhood on university property near downtown Davis south of First Street. Hull of Campus Events and Visitors Services chairs a local visitors attraction committee working to attract more tourism to Davis. UC Davis already hosts about 5,000 events a year, including athletics, performing arts and student cultural events, as well as academic conferences. "We have some linkages to our business community but not nearly what it could be," Hull said. Hull said a shuttle service would be developed to take visitors from the conference center around campus and to downtown. To help UC Davis' conference center get off to a good start, Campus Events and Visitors Services is promoting conference business before construction begins. "We're starting to book for 2002 right now," Hull said. In the meantime, she said her office will continue to provide full support for academic conferences using existing university facilities. "We also provide this full support for conferences at remote locations throughout the state and country.