Omni could build luxury hotel in downtown Raleigh near convention center

The city of Raleigh is entering into negotiations with the Omni Hotel Group to build a 500-room, luxury hotel downtown.

Why it matters: City leaders have complained for years about a lack of hotel rooms downtown, and how that keeps many organizations from choosing the Raleigh Convention Center for events.

Driving the news: The city revealed on Tuesday that it had selected Omni as its partner on a hotel to be built on one of the city-owned parking lots in front of the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.

Details: The hope is that more available hotel rooms could make Raleigh more competitive with cities like Louisville, Ky., and Nashville — places that, according to the city, have previously entered into public-private partnerships with Omni.

• The city's presentation noted Omni's penchant for building unique, luxury hotels and having financing in place as a benefit for picking the developer.
• Its only other locations in the state are the Grove Park Inn in Asheville and a hotel in uptown Charlotte.

Catch up quick: Last year, the city put out a call to developers to build a hotel that would serve the expansion of the Greater Raleigh Convention Center.

• Last month, leaders approved giving developers annual incentives from the city and county's interlocal fund, which uses tourism tax money, to support the hotel's construction.

What's next: The Raleigh City Council voted to enter into negotiations with Omni on Tuesday afternoon and allocated $400,000 to its consultants working on the deal.

• The hope is for construction to start in 2025.