Posts Tagged ‘Convention Center hotel’
Convention Center Hotel Brings 2,000+ Jobs
Recession be damned, D.C.’s getting a convention center hotel.
Yesterday, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the authorizing bill, which was approved by the DC Council last month. The legislation will set in place a plan to finance construction using public and private funds.
In a hearing about the convention center hotel earlier this summer, job creation came up repeatedly (as it usually does—with people wondering how much work will be promised to District residents).
Here’s a snippet from yesterday’s press release:
We’re Getting a Convention Center Hotel!
The engine of capitalism churns forward! Today a bill authorizing the construction of the convention center hotel was passed by the D.C. Council.
The long-delayed project sat idly by as the National Harbor attracted convention business, and Disney acquired 15 acres of property in the area to build a resort.
In early June, At-large Councilmember Kwame Brown and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans re-ignited the effort to devise a funding scheme for the project. The initial plan called for an extreme use of public funds.
Latest on the Convention Center Hotel Bill
Yesterday, the DC Council passed, on first review, a bill allowing the city to contribute an additional $72 million in public funding to the construction of the convention center hotel.
Image by Cooper Cary
‘Build it for the Children’ and Other Highlights from the Convention Center Hotel Hearing
The Convention Center Hotel, located at 9th Street and Massachusetts Ave.
“I want you to imagine a District of Columbia without a Verizon Center and a Convention Center,” stated Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans. “It would probably look like Detroit.”
“We are now spending records amounts of money in our school system. We are spending record amounts in our human services system. Those record amounts of money are generated in economic development,” Evans stated.
These comments came midway through today’s hearing on the convention center hotel, a long-stalled project which was kicked into gear again earlier this month.
The success of the convention center and the city’s tourist industry, according to various DC officials and business leaders, rests on the completion of this 1,170-room Marriott, which would have 100,000 square feet of meeting space. Shaw locals that testified about the project seemed pretty jazzed about the retail/restaurant possibilities for the neighborhood as well. Read More “‘Build it for the Children’ and Other Highlights from the Convention Center Hotel Hearing” »
