A second major new convention center hotel is coming to downtown Detroit, with this one expected to open in 2029.
The 600-room project is planned for the block surrounded by Cass Avenue, West Fort Street, Washington Boulevard and West Congress Street, just north of Huntington Place, said Claude Molinari, who leads Visit Detroit and chairs the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority, at a tourism meeting on Wednesday.
The project comes in addition to the JW Marriott Detroit Water Square hotel project, under construction on the former Joe Louis Arena site. That hotel will also have 600 rooms and tie into the convention center. It’s set to open next year before the NCAA Final Four comes to town in the spring, according to Molinari.
The convention authority is teaming with Detroit-based developer The Sterling Group for both hotels. Crain’s Detroit Business, which first reported on the second hotel plan earlier Wednesday, said the project is worth $450 million and will require demolishing the full city block, which includes the 16-story Fort Washington Plaza building, the Downtown Garage parking garage that’s just across the street from the convention center, as well as an adjacent three-story brick building that houses Health Management Systems of America, or HMSA.
Tenants of Fort Washington Plaza that would be affected by new plans for the property include the Hudson-Webber Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. A financial services outfit, Budco Financial, also lists the building, which was built in 1969, as its offices.
Molinari said the project will provide “much-needed” additional hotel rooms and “serve as a catalyst for attracting new conventions across our region.” Tourism officials have been seeking to draw more events to the city and grow the profile of Huntington Place, the 16th-largest convention center in the country.
“We regularly have conversations with hotel developers, and I can tell you there is great interest in our destination,” Molinari said.
The tourism leader noted that, with this latest project, Detroit will soon have about 1,600 additional hotel rooms in and around downtown. That includes The Detroit EDITION hotel at the Hudson’s Detroit development, featuring 227 luxury rooms, along with the NoMad Detroit hotel and its 180 rooms coming to Michigan Central Station.
The hotel construction push comes as Visit Detroit seeks to attract 25 million visitors to the city and surrounding area in a single year by 2030. A big part of that push is attracting more international travelers, Molinari said.
lramseth@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Second convention center hotel planned for downtown Detroit
Reporting by Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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