Plans for a $198 million Hyatt hotel near the Oregon Convention Center inched forward Thursday after two unanimous approvals from the Multnomah County Commission.
The financial framework for the hotel proposal has now passed five of its six votes. The Portland City Council has a final vote on the finance plan scheduled for next week; the Metro Council has already approved the financial plan.
If Portland approves the last part of the deal – the city council voted 4-1 Wednesday to approve the plan in principle – Metro negotiators can begin work on finalizing a development agreement with Hyatt and its construction partner, Mortenson Development.
Thursday morning's hearing at the county commission was remarkably similar to the two hearings already held – labor advocates and hospitality workers spoke on behalf of the proposal, while representatives of some downtown hoteliers expressed skepticism about the finance plan and the amount of public subsidy involved in the proposal.
Oregonians will directly pay about $14 million of the project's $198 million development cost. Under the finance plan, another $60 million in publicly-issued bonds would be paid by room taxes on hotel visitors.
In exchange for the public subsidy, Hyatt would meet a number of development conditions, including having a union workforce and leaving 500 of the hotel's 600 rooms available to future conventions.
Support from labor weighed heavily on the county commissioners, who were optimistic about the prospect of adding jobs to the region's workforce.
"There are so many barriers that our folks face right off the bat, and to be able to secure a secure, well-paid job with benefits that could propel them forward for a long time to me is what pushes me over onto the side of supporting this project," said county Chair Marissa Madrigal.
But the public financing involved in the plan concerned Commissioner Deborah Kafoury, who felt that the project's private sector partners should assume more of the project's risk, and hoped the project's final price tag would be lower.
"Ultimately, it will be up to Metro to negotiate this agreement, but I believe it's our responsibility as elected officials to watch carefully and make sure Multnomah County taxpayers are protected," Kafoury said. "I hope the day comes that I can say I was wrong about my reservations and the project was very successful."
On the other hand, Kafoury said, changes in the county's visitor development agreement will allow the county to do more to try to combat homelessness in the city.
"These dollars we'll be able to use to treat those folks humanely, and be able to put them into the housing they need and deserve," Kafoury said. Ultimately, the changes could lead to an extra $1 million for county efforts.
Diane McKeel, whose commission district includes the eastern part of the county, was enthused about the potential of attracting more tourists to the region.
"I look forward to the economic boost to the entire county, because we all know you can't support Portland fully, to the meeting planners, without the Columbia River Gorge," she said.
If the Portland City Council OKs the funding agreement next week as expected, negotiators from Metro, Hyatt, Mortenson and the rest of the development team hope to have a development agreement finalized by the end of the year. That deal would also have to be approved by the Metro Council, but would not need approval from the city or county.