Related also developed the $600-million CityPlace retail and entertainment center in the city's central business district. Key factors in its selection to develop the convention center hotel include the company's financial strength, its success in executing high-profile public/private projects and its prior investment in CityPlace.
"There is no doubt that the hotel is a lynchpin to the success of the county's very significant investment in the convention center and will be a powerful tourism attractor and key amenity," Stephen Ross, Related chairman and CEO, stated in a release. He added that the Hilton project will create at least 600 construction and permanent jobs, and give West Palm Beach a new edge in attracting meetings and conventions when the hotel opens in 2014.
Related and Hilton are joined in the hotel project by Coastal Construction and Catafulmo Construction, and Coral Gables-based architects Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates Inc. Financing discussion and contract negotiations between Related and Palm Beach County officials are expected to take four to six months.
Related's Hilton project replaces a previous deal that county commissioners had with Ocean Properties for a 400-room hotel with 104 condominium units next to the convention center. That arrangement was scrapped in 2008 after federal prosecutors cited an illegal relationship between Ocean and a commissioner involving the acceptance of free resort stays, according to the Palm Beach Post.
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