Northeast News
May 12, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Kansas City’s skyline is going to get a little bigger.

On Monday, Mayor Sly James announced the development of a $300 million, 800-room convention hotel near the Kansas City Convention Center. In a press release, the mayor said this has been a need for awhile now.

“America has fallen in love with Kansas City and wants to have its conventions and large meetings here,” James said. “The proposed agreement is the right development at the right location with the right operator, and now is the right time to do it.”

Directly across from the Convention Center, the hotel will be built on 16th and Wyandotte Streets. Hyatt has been selected as the hotel operator. David J. Tarr, senior vice president, real estate and development for Hyatt, said in the statement that “the growth in downtown development has primed the city to regain convention and visitor business, and Hyatt is excited by the opportunity to participate in the continuing expansion.” Construction for the new hotel is expected to begin in early 2016 and be completed in 2018.

The hotel will be a public-private partnership with $35 million coming from the revenue of existing Convention and Tourism taxes. The city investment of $35 million is fixed, does not originate from the General Fund and will be financed with revenues from existing Convention and Tourism taxes paid predominantly by out-of-town visitors. Taxpayers will not be responsible for any project cost overruns. The balance of the project cost is financed by the new city and county taxes generated by the new hotel’s operations, ballroom catering revenues plus private equity and debt. Ronnie Burt, Visit KC president and CEO, added this is a game changer.

“Over the last 10 years, Kansas city has lost out on hundreds of groups, representing millions of room nights and more than $3 billion in economic impact,” Burt said.

The convention headquarters hotel will feature approximately 75,000 square feet of meeting, banquet and pre-convene space, 9,000 square feet of garden/terrace space, 15,450 square feet of other retail, restaurant, bar and lounge space, a 9,913-square-foot recreational facility and a parking facility with 450-500 spaces. It is expected that the project will require 1,500 construction workers during the course of construction. The hotel will provide an estimated 350 full-time-equivalent jobs plus additional employment in other Kansas City-area businesses serving the convention.