Nancy Sarnoff noted last week that the on-again, off-again downtown Embassy Suites hotel is back on-again:
Construction of the 262-suite hotel, located at 1515 Dallas Avenue at La Branch, is expected to be completed in Spring 2011.
The project was supposed to get off the ground last year, but developer Nick Massad lost his loan to build it. Massad, of Houston-based American Liberty Hospitality, secured new funding at the end of last year.
The developer also got a boost from the city when council authorized a $9.6 million tax subsidy to the project as part of an effort to spur hotel development close to the George R. Brown Convention Center.
City Council passed a resolution last October which allows a hotel developer to keep hotel occupancy taxes for seven years if it builds within four blocks of the convention center.
PREVIOUSLY: If the City subsidized just one more downtown hotel, would we be world class?
