Duluth Hotel Awaits County OK
Nilhan Hospitality's bid to build a $57-million hotel at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth now awaiting approval by Gwinnett's Board of Commissioners.
Gwinnett County is about to get a real economic boost if a developer's proposal to build a multimillion dollar hotel is approved by the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners.
Nilhan Hospitality, located in Peachtree Corners, was one of four companies that submitted bids for a cenvention center hotel. On Wednesday the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau's Board of Directors selected the firm to build a $57-million Marriott Hotel that will connect to the Gwinnett Center in unincorporated Duluth.
"Nilhan Hospitality was actually planning on building a Marriott Hotel nearby," said Lisa Anders, GCVB's executive director, "and had already been approved for a Marriott franchise."
Anders said Nilhan's proposal would be completely privately financed and require no bonds or county money. "The developer is ready and fully financed," said Anders. "It's a huge economic development for the county. It's amazing in today's economy to find a developer with private funding."
The proposed convention center hotel would allow Gwinnett County to be more competitive in its ability to bring larger conventions to the area. Cobb County, its closest competitor, already has a convention center hotel.
The hotel would be built on a two-acre site that would take in part of the current parking lot in front of the Gwinnett Center and would be directly connected so hotel guests would walk from the hotel lobby to the center's lobby.
The expected revenue on the property and hotel-motel tax alone is expected to be $65 million.
Concord Hospitality, which operates over 80 hotels throughout the U.S and Canada, will manage the new Gwinnett Center Marriott.
If the Gwinnett County Commission approves the project, "we'll move forward with negotiations," said Anders.
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David
3:35 pm on Thursday, April 26, 2012
Please, please approve. Duluth could really use the tax revenue to help balance the city's budget
DavidE
5:22 pm on Thursday, April 26, 2012
This is outside the city limits, it will not help the city.
Bob
11:25 am on Friday, April 27, 2012
Will this tank the Marriott property on Pleasant Hill?
DavidE
5:26 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
It probably will kill that Marriott.
tony
7:50 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Please don't leave out that they only plan on charging them a $1.00 a year for the land. I wish I could get a mortgage that cheap. How much business is this going to take away from rest of the hotels in the area? The same hotels that pay taxes to fund the Center in the first place.