Committee advances authorization for $40 million bond, $50 million city loan for convention center hotel financing

The Cincinnati Budget & Finance Committee advanced an ordinance to place before City Council an authorization for up to $40,000,000 in economic development revenue bonds and discussed a related $50,000,000 city loan to support a planned convention center hotel.

The financing request, presented by 3CDC and Portman Holdings at a special committee meeting, would be one element of a larger $536,000,000 estimated hotel budget and a broader public–private capital stack that the presenters said combines state grants, tax credits, bonds, TIF revenues and private equity.

Katie Westbrook, senior staff with 3CDC, said the convention center project “closed on financing in May 2024. The $264,000,000 project is well, well underway. We have about 6 months left to deliver the project, and I'm happy to say that we are on schedule and we are well within our budget.” She and Reid Scott of Portman Holdings described the hotel as a 700-key, full-service property with about 63,000 square feet of meeting space and an 18,000–19,000-square-foot grand ballroom, plus a skybridge connection to the convention center.

Portman’s Reid Scott summarized the…