May 10--A 300-room Marriott and a 250-room Hilton are the centerpieces of competing plans for a hotel to serve the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. 

The Hilton would be developed through a partnership of Columbia-based Edens & Avant Real Estate Services and Garfield Corp. out of Dallas, Texas. 

The Marriott would be developed by John Q. Hammons of Springfield, Mo. 

Both Ray Garfield Jr., president of Garfield Corp., and John Lumpkin Jr., president of Edens & Avant Real Estate Services, declined to give many details of the proposal their teams have put together. 

Garfield did say his hotel would be a Hilton in the 250-room range. But he deferred to the city of any discussion of details, including cost estimates. 

City Manager Leona Plaugh also declined to discuss details of the projects. The city hopes to make a decision on a developer for the project within a few weeks. 

Edens & Avant would oversee the development for its team, Lumpkin said. 

The team includes not only Edens & Avant, but also local architects Stevens & Wilkinson along with TVS of Atlanta, Turner Construction Co. and bankers Solomon Smith Barney. Stevens & Wilkinson and TVS partnered to design the convention center. Noted S.C. horticulturist Louis Lynn is the landscaper of the project, Lumpkin said. 

"Our objective was to put together a broad-based community development group," Lumpkin said. 

Of the Marriott proposal, Hammons said the building would be an atrium-style hotel that would have eight or nine floors. "We're trying to keep things low," he said. 

The hotel would have some small meeting rooms on the second floor and also a full-service restaurant. His company, John Q. Hammons Corp., would own, operate and manage all aspects of the hotel, including the restaurant. 

The hotel would also have an accompanying garage. 

Cost of the project would be $45 million to $50 million, he said. "It's got to be nice." Either hotel would most likely be located directly across from the convention center at Senate and Lincoln streets. However, the city and the developers have said that is just one of several possible sites in the area. 

A Lincoln Street improvement plan developed by Stevens & Wilkinson includes a tunnel from a hotel at that location to the lower level of the convention center. 

Mayor Bob Coble has said the city would acquire the land for the hotel project. 

Damon's restaurant currently occupies the property at Senate and Lincoln. The restaurant is operated by Carolinas Management in Myrtle Beach. 

Mike Robertson, vice president of operations for the company, said he met with representatives from the city in August of 2001. "They asked us our thoughts and ideas," Robertson said, but he hasn't heard back from the city. 

Damon's has a 30-year lease on the property and would like to remain in that location, Robertson said. 

The land itself is part of the trust of the late Charlton Hall Sr. It is administered by his son, Charlton Hall Jr., for his mother. 

Hall Jr. said the city approached him about a year ago about selling the property, but neither he nor his attorney has had any contact from the city in five or six months. 

City Manager Plaugh said the city hasn't put anything on the table to entice either developer. 

"The various submitters have asked for subsidies," she said, butshe declined to reveal details. 

The proposals are being studied by the Convention Center Authority's hotel committee. That committee is headed by Wachovia banker Charlie Cole. The hotel committee will review the proposals and make a recommendation to City Council. 

Both Garfield and Hammons are experienced convention hotel developers. 

Among its projects, Garfield developed a $92 million Sheraton Conference Center Hotel in Overland Park, Kan. and a $31 million full-service hotel and conference center in Bay City, Mich. 

John Q. Hammons Corp. developed and owns the Embassy Suites hotel on Greystone in Columbia as well as the 225-room Embassy Suites at the North Charleston Convention Center. 

The company has built 150 hotels and has about $600 million in sales annually, Hammons said. 

If the city wants the hotel to open at the same time the convention center does in the spring of 2004, it will need to make a decision soon. 

Hammons said it will take 14 to 15 months minimum to build the hotel. 

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(c) 2002, The State, Columbia, S.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. MAR, HLTGY, JQH, HLT,