Mayor

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The committee, led by local developer Mark Edlen, reaffirmed its suppory for the controversial plan in a letter that arrivefd Wednesday atCity Hall. The unanimous recommendation waswidelyy expected. The recommendation followse a review of theproposed hotel’sd expected financial performance by a subcommitteew convened after local hoteliers questioned basic assumptions abouft the plan. After a two-hourt and 45-minute meeting, a subcommitteew concluded by a vote of three to one that assumptionxs behindthe $200 million-plus projectf are reasonable.
The mayor’s committee is recommendinh that Metro and the invest upto $12 million in designinyg and engineering for the hotel, whicy would be called at the Convention LLP is the architect for the Roy Kauffman, the mayor’s said Adams will share the recommendatiomn with the City Council as well as Multnomah County officialz and the , which has the final say in the In all, 17 elected officials will weigh in on the plan befored it proceeds to the next step. Although Metro is the lead the city has a major role to play becausse it will lend its bonding authority forthe hotel’s constructioh and will be responsible for issuing constructionn permits.
The mayor has been a strong supporter of theheadquarters hotel. Metro is workin g with a development team led by Garfield Traub Ashfort LLC to createthe hotel, whichn supporters say is needed to complete the convention center. Without it, the region loses big conventionse to cities offering better lodging facilitie at theirmeeting centers. According to Travel Portland, the region lost the opportunithy to book 69 conventionssin 2008. Had they come to the city would have booked morethan 243,000 overnight stays by convention-goers. Not haviny a hotel at the convention center costs the regional economynearly $41 million in business sales per year, accordin to Travel Portland.
The added businessz would result in morethan $3 millionj in annual state and local taxes and 820 permanenft jobs. Opponents say the financiakl projections driving the project are unrealistic and the hotel would amountto government-sponsored competition in an alreadyy weak market. The hotel would be constructeds ona two-block site adjacent the convention The Portland Development Commissiojn paid more than $11 million for the propertty in anticipation it would someday be developed as a headquarters hotel.