Convention Center Hotel in Jeopardy
Costs May Doom Contentious Project
By Dana Hedgpeth and Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 12, 2007; Page D01
The deal to build a convention center hotel, long plagued by squabbles over its location and who would pay for it, is now in serious jeopardy of collapsing under the weight of the nation's credit crunch.
Marriott International and RLJ Development, the hotel company started by BET founder Robert Johnson, had been planning to build the District's biggest hotel, with 1,400 rooms, at Ninth Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, across from the convention center. But investors and people involved in the deal say the timing may have made it untenable:
The hotel boom has shown signs of slowing, interest rates and construction costs are rising, and it is difficult and more expensive for developers to borrow money from banks.
The project was expected to cost $550 million and be completed in 2009, but with construction costs rising as the project encountered delays and the D.C. government having to buy land, it is now likely to cost $750 million and not open until 2012 or 2013.
what a colossal waste of money that convention center was....
soon, national harbor will provide even more competition....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews