The city has said it wants a hotel with more than 150 rooms and a conference center of about 30,000 sf, and would like the private developer to take the risk on the hotel while it took the risk on the conference center. Because of that, however, two of the proposals didn't really address the convention center portion of the development, making it hard to easily compare and contrast the proposals.

Another issue still to be resolved is that all four proposals call for building a hotel using a public nonprofit entity, which could be seen by existing hotel owners as publicly-subsidized competition. In the event the development was a flop, two of the proposals-- by Garfield Traub Development of Dallas, Texas, and Landmark Organization of Austin, Texas--would require the city to be ultimately responsible for some of the hotel development costs, while he other two--by the Port of Vancouver and Renaissance Resources Group of Chandler, Ariz.--would limit the city's exposure on the hotel to the money it has already committed. The Port's proposal also would limit the city's exposure on the conference center, an extra assurance that could give the Port the advantage if no other developer matches the offer.

Speaking of committed money, the City is running up against two important deadlines. Clark County, which has said it will commit several hundred thousand dollars annually to help operate the conference center, says it needs to know if the project is moving forward by the end of the month or it will use the proceeds to upgrade the county fairgrounds instead. January 2004 is the City's deadline to start construction if it wants to continue receiving an annual state sales tax credit of $720,000.