Sept. 06–A plan to build an additional hotel near the Bayfront Convention Center on Erie’s west bayfront is getting a multimillion-dollar boost from state government.
The Erie County Convention Center Authority will get $25 million in state funds, distributed over five years, to develop a hotel just west of the convention center, 1 Sassafras Pier.
Gov. Tom Corbett’s office announced the release of the first $5 million of the grant late Thursday.
The new hotel site is currently a loading area for the convention center, and is also used for employee parking.
Roger Richards, a Convention Center Authority board member who heads its Strategic Planning Committee, said he learned about the grant award on Thursday.
Richards said the hotel will cost about $55 million, and construction could take place within a few months.
Richards said the authority will likely issue a bond to cover the remaining $29 million in project costs. A 425-space parking garage, with covered walkways to the new hotel and to the convention center, is also planned for the project.
Both Richards and Casey Wells, the Convention Center Authority’s executive director, said the new hotel will have less expensive rates than the nearby Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel, which opened in April 2008 on West Dobbins Landing.
Rooms at the Sheraton — which connects to the convention center via an overhead walkway that is 65 feet above the water — can cost as much as $250 per night with taxes and fees, according to the hotel’s website.
“Our market studies confirm we need an additional hotel adjacent to the Convention Center,” Richards said, “with a different price range than the Sheraton.”
The new hotel will also complement the authority’s plans to redevelop the 12.5-acre former GAF Materials Corp. site, just to the southwest of the convention center.
