Oct. 9--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--The Albuquerque Development Commission next week will hold a public hearing on a proposal to issue $41 million in Industrial Revenue Bonds to build a 9-story luxury hotel near Downtown. 

Hotel entrepreneur John Q. Hammons, developer and owner of the Crowne Plaza Pyramid at Journal Center, wants the city to approve the bonds for a 261 room Embassy Suites hotel with conference center on a 9.35 acre site at Lomas and Interstate 25. Notice of the hearing and project was mailed to Albuquerque area hotels by the Modrall Sperling law firm. Hotel managers forwarded the notice to the Journal. The city Development Commission will hold a public hearing Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Center, One Civic Plaza, to review the bond proposal. 

Industrial revenue bonds are bonds issued by a state or local government to finance private industrial projects that generate tax revenue. 

If approved, the city of Albuquerque would issue the bonds to finance the project, and the developer would be wholly responsible for payment of the bonds, the mailed notice said. The city will not be liable for the bond debt or project maintenance, the commission said in Oct. 3 letter. 

The letter informed area hotel owners of the project and invited testimony at the public hearing. 

At least one hotel owner voiced concern. 

"The downtown area is saturated with hotels, if someone was coming to town to build a factory that would be different," said Suheil Kare, owner of the Comfort Inn East on Central at Tramway. 

Springfield, Mo.- based John Q. Hammons Industries has built dozens of hotels throughout the country including 17 Embassy Suites hotels in 13 states. 

Hammons first announced his intention to build an Embassy Suites hotel in Albuquerque in 1994. Early in 1998 Hammons told the Journal that he was planning to build a 10-story 260 room hotel at the corner of Lomas and I-25 later in the year. Estimated costs then were between $25 million and $30 million. There was no mention of IRBs. No construction ever took place. In response to an emailed Journal request to the John Q. Hammons headquarters in Springfield, Mo., for information on the project, the company emailed back: "At this time, we don't have any additional information to share. Thank you." 

Calls to the city's Economic Development Office were not returned Tuesday. 

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(c) 2002, Albuquerque Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.