Occupancy of City-Owned Hotel Up over 40%

PORTLAND-With the convention season ramping up, the city-owned Inn at the Convention Center across from the expanded Oregon Convention Center may pull its own weight for a while.

The PDC paid Gene Ferryman $5.2 million last year for the former Best Western hotel in part because the land, if combined with other adjacent parcels over the next three years, could eventually be used for development of a convention center hotel, one in excess of 500 rooms.

After shutting down the hotel for a few months and opting not to make the improvements necessary to keep it a Best Western franchise, the city renamed the hotel and cut a three-year management deal with Wright Hotels, which operates the nearby Convention Center Holiday Inn. The goal was to not have a vacant run-down hotel across from Oregon Convention Center, which is cleaning up from a $90-million expansion.