PORTLAND, Oregon — Metro, the regional government that owns the Oregon Convention Center, approved the final development agreement for a new headquarters hotel, allowing the project to proceed to the design and preconstruction planning phase.
The agreement between Metro, Minneapolis-based Mortenson Development and Hyatt Hotels outlines the financing arrangements to construct a Hyatt Regency convention center hotel located directly north of the convention center. Initial project costs are $212 million.
“When we set out over two years ago to find a private sector partner to invest in our community, we pledged to limit costs and maximize benefits for the public,” said Metro Council president Tom Hughes. “This plan achieves those original goals, targets strategic investments in our state’s tourism economy and promises generous returns for many years to come.”
The 600-room Hyatt Regency will mark the brand’s arrived in Portland’s robust hotel market, which, in recent years, has witnessed marked increases in occupancy and room rates. The hotel, planned to open in fall 2017, will offer an upper-scale product to local customers and international travelers, in addition to the convention center’s target client: midsize national conventions.
“The Portland market is uniquely poised to welcome Hyatt into the market,” said Scott Cruickshank, executive director of the Oregon Convention Center and former hospitality executive. “Demand exists among business and leisure travelers visiting the city, and our national meeting planner clients who bring conventions to town rate the Hyatt Regency as a top choice among hotel products.”
The Metro Council also approved a room block agreement between Metro and Hyatt to maximize national convention business at the convention center. A block of 500 rooms is reserved for the convention center and the city’s convention and visitor services bureau, Travel Portland, to offer set rates for convention groups 36 months in advance and beyond. A smaller room block consisting of 300 rooms is also set aside for booking convention business between 24 and 36 months into the future.
