Portland should move ahead with plans for a $227 million bond-financed convention center hotel, according to a task force appointed by Mayor Sam Adams.
A nine-member group that included bankers, developers, and union leaders recommended that the city and Metro, the regional government, should move ahead with a $5 million engineering study for the 600-room hotel, according to a report in the Portland Oregonian.
The hotel would be operated by Starwood Resorts & Hotels Worldwide and financed by bonds backed by hotel revenues, the paper said. But leaders are worried that the hotel will not generate enough revenue to maintain adequate debt service coverage ratios.
Portland leaders have been debating proposals for a hotel next to the Oregon Convention Center since 1989.
