Norfolk Hotel and Conference Center Vote Next Week

At today's City Council working session, the council was briefed by City Manager Marcus Jones on the status of the proposed hotel and conference center downtown to be located at Main St. and Granby St.

CC Image courtesy of Norfolk Department of Development

Though nothing new was really revealed during the brief, it was mentioned that a public hearing would be held at next Tuesday's council meeting, followed by a vote.  As far as I could tell, everyone present seemed generally pleased with Jone's brief and no questions were asked (his brief did follow a closed session on "a real estate manner," so maybe that's why).

Early in March, Norfolk and developer Bruce Thompson, the CEO of Gold Key PHR Hotels and Resorts in Virginia Beach, struck a deal on the$130 million project that would include a 300-room hotel, a 50,000 square-foot conference center, a 600-space parking deck, and restaurant.

Thompson said he hopes to bring an iconic 23-story hotel to Norfolk, similar to what's found in most large cities.  That means luxury suites, a rooftop garden, two-story atrium, meeting spaces that's DoD-compliant, and other upscale amenities.  According to Thompson, Vegas' SLS Hotel, NYC's Hudson Hotel, Orlando's Peabody, and Miami's Delano Hotel have inspired the vision for the project.

The gist of the deal is that the city of Norfolk would pay for the parking garage and conference center (with money that's already been allocated), while Gold Key would pay for the hotel.  So it seems there's not much to discuss financially.  The next step is about 6 months to develop the design plans.