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Why Charlotte is putting plans for big convention hotel on ice

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Late in the summer of 2017, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority Chief Executive Tom Murray stood before a room full of local hotel executives and explained how a 1,000-room convention hotel would help everyone in the tourism industry.

[RELATED: Davidson residents raise money to defend win against controversial hotel plans]

Even competing hotels. Or, perhaps, especially hotels.

With help from Heath Dillard, visitors authority research director, Murray presented slides and statistics demonstrating what was titled the “Case for Convention Hotel Development.”

Citing room-occupancy percentages and other figures compiled by industry analyst STR, Murray and Dillard detailed market gains in Austin, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Nashville and Charlotte after convention hotels opened in those cities. The Charlotte example dated to 2003, when the 700-room Westin opened on South College Street, near the convention center. Built for $143 million, the Westin included $16 million in local government funding.

Earlier this year, a visitors authority consultant told the Charlotte Business Journal that up to $30 million from existing tourism tax revenue would be used to acquire land to build a convention hotel.

Over the summer, Murray and the consultant — former deputy city manager Ron Kimble — hoped to lay the groundwork for a four- to five-year development cycle to find a private developer to partner with the visitors authority.

And things pretty much ground to a halt from that moment.

Read about where things stand and how such a development might impact Charlotte here.

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