Today Mayor Jim Suttle, along with Timothy Benolken, Senior Vice President of Western North America for Hilton Worldwide and Robert Watson, Hilton Omaha General Manager, announced that Omaha will expand the City-owned Hilton Omaha by 150 rooms.
The mayor called the expansion a “major benefit to our community” for the following reasons:
- It will create 200-250 new construction jobs and 75 permanent jobs at the Hotel.
- It will enable the Hilton to add an additional 150 rooms, bringing the total room number to 600.
- It will bring one million dollars in revenue to the City through the hotel/motel tax and property tax revenues.
- It will bring increased sales tax revenue from the new meetings, conventions and sporting events that will now be able to book events into a larger hotel.
Robert Watson, Hilton Omaha General Manager, Mayor Jim Suttle, and Timothy Benolken, Senior Vice President of Western North America next to a rendering of the expanded Hilton Omaha hotel.
A key aspect of successful booking of large events is in being able to keep all of those attending the event at the same hotel. The Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau has identified over 2600 group meetings that require a room block commitment of 350 to 500 rooms.
This expansion is part of the original design of the Hilton hotel. Support beams are already in place for additional rooms to be built on top of the existing parking structure. Five additional levels will be added over the parking garage and parking will also be expanded. The project will include a refurbishing of the Liberty Tavern, the hotel lobby, guest rooms, meeting rooms and the addition of a 7,000 square foot ballroom.
Construction is scheduled to begin in November of this year with completion in early 2012. The project will be financed through $35 million in revenue bonds, meaning that revenue from the hotel will be used to repay the bonds.
Moving forward with expansion now has major advantages:
- The Hilton will be ready for major events in Omaha in 2012, including: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the 2012 College World Series and the US Olympic Team Trials for Swimming.
- The City can take advantage of cost savings from a competitive construction environment and low interest rates.
“The Hilton is the front door to our City on a drive downtown from Eppley Airfield,” Mayor Suttle said. ”This expansion is an investment in the City’s future as Omaha takes another step forward in becoming a destination city.”
The plan will go before the City Council for approval in the coming weeks.
