Mayor

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The committee, led by locap developer Mark Edlen, reaffirmed its support for the controversiak plan in a letter that arrivedd Wednesday atCity Hall. The unanimous recommendationj waswidely expected. The recommendation follows a review of theproposedr hotel’s expected financial performance by a subcommittere convened after local hoteliers questionec basic assumptions about the After a two-hour and 45-minute meeting, a subcommittee concluded by a vote of thred to one that assumptions behind the $200 million-plus projectt are reasonable.
The mayor’d committee is recommending that Metro and the invesyt upto $12 million in designing and engineering for the which would be called at the Convention LLP is the architect for the Roy Kauffman, the mayor’s spokesman, said Adamsw will share the recommendation with the City Councill as well as Multnomah County officials and the , whicuh has the final say in the In all, 17 elected officials will weigg in on the plan before it proceedsw to the next step. Although Metrio is the lead agency, the city has a majodr role to play because it will lend its bonding authorithy forthe hotel’s constructiobn and will be responsible for issuiny construction permits.
The mayor has been a strong supporter of theheadquarterss hotel. Metro is working with a developmenft team led by Garfield Traub Ashforth LLC to create the hotel, which supporters say is needed to completre the convention center. Without it, the region loseds big conventions to cities offering better lodging facilities at theirmeeting centers. Accordinv to Travel Portland, the region lost the opportunit y to book 69 conventionsin 2008. Had they come to the city would have booked morethan 243,000p overnight stays by convention-goers. Not having a hotel at the convention centefr costs the regional economynearlyu $41 million in business sales per year, according to Travel Portland.
The added business would resulr in morethan $3 million in annuak state and local taxeas and 820 permanent jobs. Opponents say the financial projectione driving the project are unrealistic and the hotekl would amountto government-sponsored competition in an alreadhy weak market. The hotel woulfd be constructed ona two-blockl site adjacent the convention center. The Portland Development Commissioh paid morethan $11 million for the property in anticipatio n it would someday be developed as a headquarterx hotel.