While other communities are sprinting for county hotel tax funds, Lehi may be back at the starting line.

Thanksgiving Point has dropped out of the convention center funding race, said Mike Washburn, CEO -- but Hampton Inn in Lehi has picked up the baton, said Graydon Pearson of Hampton Inn.

"I'm working on it, that's for sure," Pearson said. "Thanksgiving Point is an area meant for a convention center."

He said the hospitality community is coming together at Thanksgiving Point, marked by the fact that two and possibly three hotels are now slated to be built there, including Hampton Inn and the Marriott Springville Suites. Having a convention center there makes sense.

"Previously hospitality at Thanksgiving Point was always kind of a dream," Pearson said. "Now it's a reality. A feasibility study for a convention center is a reality in the immediate future."

He is meeting on Monday with other businesses in the area to organize sponsorship for a study, he said.

"Technically speaking, nobody is involved at this point," Pearson said, adding he hopes to be able to get funds pledged from the business community in the area.

Lehi officials had agreed in September to pay one quarter of the estimated $60,000 cost for the study, contingent on Thanksgiving Point leaders, who proposed the 200,000-square-foot center, picking up the other quarter. They planned to ask Utah County Commissioners to fund the remaining half.

Thanksgiving Point leaders gave an adamant "no" to the proposal in October.

"It's not a Thanksgiving Point issue if there isn't enough interest in the area," Washburn said. "I'm not pushing it at this point. ... We brought it to the city, we contacted feasibility study companies."

Lehi officials have said they are still interested in seeing the center built in north Lehi. The center would generate tax revenue for Lehi and the county and could be built with hotel tax funds, if approved by the county.

"There isn't really much to say except it's still in the picture," said Lehi Mayor Howard Johnson. "I think it's something we need to push. I think it's something we need to do."

At least two other cities, Pleasant Grove and Provo, have announced plans to build a convention facility. Provo has presented a $32 million, 80,000-square-foot facility proposal near the Marriott Hotel on Freedom Boulevard and 100 North to county officials, who have yet to decide whether they will participate in the project.

Pleasant Grove received county funding on Nov. 14 for the purchase of 50 acres of land at the Pleasant Grove/Interstate 15 interchange where an Embassy Suites Hotel complex is planned. Some of the new property tax and hotel room tax generated by the $85 million project will be diverted to repay the bond used to buy the property. Part of those plans include a 100,000-square-foot convention center and restaurant and retail space.

While other municipalities present convention center proposals, Lehi is still trying to get in the race. Until they do there isn't much county commissioners can do, said Commissioner Larry Ellertson.

"We haven't seen any special plans to discuss at this point," Ellertson said. "We know that they're interested in looking at something there."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B2.