According to the Portland Tribune, Metro has decided to postpone a decision on funding for the proposed 600-room headquarters hotel at the Convention Center. The hotel would be publicly owned and privately operated.
This decision comes two weeks before the self-imposed Oct. 3rd deadline to decide the fate of the hotel. Metro says delaying the decision until Dec 18 would give them time to cut the project's estimated cost and finalize a financing plan.
Opponents of the project called for Metro to give up on the project saying Metro can't afford the $248 million project, but won't kill it.
The reason for the hotel is that consultants, hired by Metro, estimate the Convention Center is losing $50 million a ear in bookings to other cities with larger and better located hotels.
We will just have to wait and see what Metro decides about this project. It claims to have identified about $7 million in cost savings, but projects like this tend to go over budget, and given the uncertainty of the financial markets and the increasing cost of oil, one has to wonder how solid the estimate of $248 million is for this project.
Related posts and links:
Legal Questions About Rental Car Taxes Could Affect Convention Center Support
Convention Center Hotel Project Estimate Increases
Headquarters Hotel Spurs Deveopment in Loydd District
Daily Journal of Commerce - Headquarters Hotel Talks Delayed
PDC info about the hotel project.
Metro info about the hotel project.
