April 25--The Tyler City Council is expected to select and announce an owner and a site for a new $50 million hotel and convention center in the city as part of a public-private partnership deal, according to the council agenda.

The proposed 250-room conference center hotel is expected to generate $600,000 in revenue in new hotel occupancy tax income for the city in addition to new sales tax revenue, property taxes and operating income, according to information from the city.

The conference center would offer 27,000-square feet of meeting space. The city would reserve the right to approvals of private ownership, hotel brand, professional services from architects and builders, and project budgets, should the project proceed after a six-month period for pre-development work.

On Jan. 9, council members voted unanimously to enter into a private services contract with Garfield Traub Development to act as program managers to assist the city with bringing a new hotel-conference center to Tyler and that firm has identified a potential investor for the hotel, according to information from the city. The contract calls for the firm to document pre-development activities, document negotiations, design of the facility and construction.

Private donations for the hotel and conference would fund about 66 percent of the project, and remaining funds would come from hotel tax revenue, according to the city information. Because most conferences would need more than 250 hotel rooms, the overflow guests could stay in other area hotels.

The hotel and conference center could open in March 2016 if all goes according to plan, representatives from Garfield Traub said in January. It was estimated in January that about 20,000 visits to the city are lost because there are no accommodations, according to the city.

Steve Moffett, of Garfield Traub, said in January the location would be up to whoever owns the hotel. The council meets at 9 a.m. today at the Tyler City Hall, 212 North Bonner Ave.

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