An adjacent convention hotel is the missing piece in the puzzle for OCC.
As successful as the Oregon Convention Center, Portland, has been over the past 25 years, city and convention center officials feel the only thing now missing to make the building even more desirable is a big box hotel.
"This would be a game changer for the city," said Matt Pizzuti, center deputy director.
It couldn't be more important, said Executive Director Scott Cruickshank.
That is why the Metropolitan government of the City of Portland has long sought to build a hotel near the convention center that it operates. Cruickshank said the popularity of Portland is growing, but because there is no large hotel near the center, some events end up having to book several properties for their attendees.
And, Portland loses midsized national conventions to other cities with convention center hotels. In the fall of 2014, eight major conventions bypassed the Oregon Convention Center for this reason, costing the local economy $85 million. The impact to the Portland area’s hotel industry is over 106,000 lost room nights during the booking period.
Portland ranks as a highly attractive convention and travel destination. A survey of national meeting planners found, however, that they were 79 percent more likely to bring their convention to Portland if there were an adjacent convention center hotel.
Metro found a willing developer for the estimated$212-million project in Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction, but only with a subsidy package that includes $60 million in revenue bonds backed by hotel lodging taxes and another $18 million in grants and loans.
Mortenson Construction will develop the project and Hyatt Corporation will operate it.
The hotel is expected to have 600 rooms.
A coalition of hotel owners is trying to stop the development by legal tactics, but, as of mid-September, have had no luck in doing so.
"We hope to have the details worked out soon and for construction to begin next year," Cruickshank said. "It is a two-year build so we are looking at completion as 2018, barring any further delays."
The Oregon Convention Center is located in downtown Portland, however, it is on the east side of the Willamette River. Most of the restaurants, shopping and hotels are located on the west side of the river.
"Getting this hotel is very, very important to us," Cruickshank said. "It is not a sure thing as yet but it has been through the design stages and the design has been submitted to the city."
A convention center hotel is expected to boost the Oregon Convention Center's business significantly, attracting five to 10 new conventions each year and increasing the facility’s annual economic impact by $120 million.