Hamilton County to consider development agreement for 700-room convention hotel

Hamilton County commissioners heard an update Oct. 21 on the proposed headquarters hotel for Cincinnati’s Convention District and were told a three-party development agreement among the city, county and developer Portman will be before the board Oct. 30.

The presentation by Katie Westbrook of 3CDC and Reid Scott of Portman detailed the project program, a proposed financing stack and public protections. "We are anticipating about $1,200,000,000 being invested into this relatively small section of Downtown Cincinnati," Westbrook said, and Scott described the hotel as "a 700 key convention hotel with about 63,000 square feet of meeting space." The developers said the hotel will be branded a Marriott and connected to the convention center by a sky bridge.

The nut of the plan is public financing to support roughly $117 million in revenue bonds, a $50 million city loan and other public pieces of the capital stack. Scott outlined expected public instruments and private contributions, including a $48 million state grant, an estimated $37 million benefit from a mixed‑use development tax credit, about $117 million in bond proceeds and a $50 million city contribution. He said the developer expects to close financing by the end of December if the required public agreements are approved.

County staff and the presenters described inclusion and public‑protection terms negotiated in the draft development agreement. The hotel project will be asked to meet the convention center’s participation goals: a 20% minority‑business enterprise (MBE) goal with a 25% reach, a 10% women‑owned business enterprise (WBE) goal with a 15% reach, and a new primary trade union subcontractor goal (60% with a 65% goal). Scott also said Portman will use "best efforts to engage with local minority and women investors" on financing opportunities.

Presenters described contractual protections for the public. Portman agreed to split project savings 50/50 with the city, capped at $17.5 million, and to an incentive recoupment provision giving the city and county 25% of sale proceeds above a defined threshold if the developer sells within 10 years (a sale price threshold presented was $325 million grown at 3% per year). The development agreement would also create a restrictive operating covenant intended to maintain an "upper-scale" hotel standard for 75 years, measured by Smith Travel Research (STR) criteria. Portman also will provide commencement and completion guarantees and enter two room‑block agreements with Visit Cincy.

Commissioners asked detailed questions about parking, market demand and financing mechanics. Westbrook said 3CDC and the Port Authority are planning demolition of the Elm Street garage acquired to support the project and that 3CDC controls about 2,500 other parking spaces nearby; she said county and city analysis shows downtown parking capacity will meet the hotel and convention center needs. Several commissioners asked whether adding 700 rooms would expand convention business or merely redistribute existing demand among downtown hotels; presenters said third‑party market studies (HVS) and their own analyses indicate downtown will have roughly the same number of rooms as before the Millennium was demolished and that the additional rooms will help meet demand, though staff said they would provide more detailed competitiveness analysis to the board before final approvals.

No vote was taken Oct. 21. Scott and Westbrook said staff will present a resolution on Oct. 30 covering: (1) exemption and pledge of the county's transient‑occupancy tax for the hotel site; (2) authorization of the hotel development agreement; and (3) authorization of the cooperative agreement among the port, city and county for issuance and sale of revenue bonds. Commissioners and staff also discussed timing relative to expected city council action.

The county will receive additional information from staff ahead of the Oct. 30 meeting, including clarified Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) contract terms the developer said will help close a remaining budget gap. Commissioners requested the county’s final analysis of parking capacity and the Visit Cincy competitiveness data shared to the board the previous night.

If the Oct. 30 resolution is introduced, commissioners will be deciding whether to commit limited public financing tools and tax pledges that, as presented, depend on future bond sales and room‑occupancy revenues to support the public portion of the capital stack.