SAVANNAH — If you build more of it, they will come. But where will they stay?
The state authority behind the Savannah Convention Center finally has an answer to that question. Construction crews are nearing completion on a $276 million convention center expansion that will double the venue’s capacity and make it the 71st largest convention center in the country. Yet as the Jan. 10 opening approaches, an adjacent site reserved for what tourism officials call a “vital” 400-room hotel remains untouched.
On Thursday, the Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority announced plans to build the hotel in partnership with two developers, including Atlanta-based Songy Highroads. Mark V. Smith, the authority’s chairman, said convention center officials will work with hotel group Hilton and financial firm Citicorp on financing for the property.
The authority plans to issue tax-exempt bonds that will be sold to third-party private properties to raise revenue for the project. The estimated cost is more than $200 million, Smith said.
The date for a hotel groundbreaking and a construction timeline are still to be determined.
Credit: Courtesy image
Credit: Courtesy image
The move comes after a developer, Brookfield Properties, reneged in June on an agreement to build the convention center hotel, citing financing issues. Brookfield already owns the 403-room Westin Savannah Harbor, located next to the convention center on the opposite side of the exhibit hall from the would-be new hotel’s location.
“It is critical to protect the investment of over half a billion in state and local funding by delivering a supporting hotel,” said Smith, a veteran of Savannah’s hotel industry. “Recent turmoil in the credit markets led us to the conclusion that we must build the new hotel ourselves.”
Convention-related business is an economic driver for cities, even in a leisure tourism destination such as Savannah. Tourism leaders say conventions are particularly important to the visitor economy because they attract business on weekdays while leisure tourism is focused on the weekends. The Savannah Convention Center has generated an estimated $1.4 billion economic impact since its 2000 opening.
In 2022, the venue hosted a record 129 events, including 39 conventions, and 163,000 attendees, all while under construction.
The facility’s sustained popularity — and calls by existing convention customers for a bigger space — led to the expansion. Savannah Convention Center partner Visit Savannah, the local convention and visitors bureau, has booked 22 events that require the expanded capacity since construction began in March 2021.
The business includes the first conference to be held in the expanded venue, the 3,500-attendee Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference, and a veterinarian’s conference booked for 2026 that calls for 6,000 hotel room nights.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Losing business
Yet convention bookers have warned the authority board for months now about the consequences of delays in the convention center hotel development. Visit Savannah’s Jeff Hewitt reports that a lack of hotel rooms contributed to the city losing 57 deals so far in 2023.
An additional 43 prospective customers have withheld their commitment while waiting “for us to put a shovel in the ground” on a second convention center hotel, Visit Savannah President Joe Marinelli said.
He said Thursday’s announcement gives convention bookers “the ability to go back to the planners that we have been talking with and dancing with for the last 12 to 18 months and tell them there is progress and to bear with us” while a construction timeline is developed.
“Is it enough?” said Marinelli, who sits on the Georgia-Savannah Convention Center Authority board. “No, not yet. But it’s a step in the right direction.”
Savannah’s hotel inventory surpasses 18,500 rooms, with about 750 more rooms in planning or development stages. Many of those are being built downtown, within sight of the Savannah Convention Center but located a ferry ride or bridge-spanning car ride across the Savannah River from the convention center, which sits on Hutchinson Island.
Only the Westin is located within walking distance of the Savannah Convention Center. The expansion allows bookers to target conventions needing 900 to 1,200 rooms a night, and the convenience of having 800-plus rooms available in properties onsite is a “selling point” with convention planners.
“Convenience doesn’t mean a water taxi ride away. It means a short walk, and even more convenient is direct connectivity like the Westin and the new hotel come close to giving you,” said Michael Owens, CEO of the Savannah Area Tourism Leadership Council, a trade group representing the local hospitality industry.
“It’s never been a matter of whether the hotel would be necessary upon completion. Even hotels that would compete with this hotel support it because it directly enhances our economy on the downtown side of the river,” Owens said.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The GWCC Signia model
The Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority is taking the same approach to the second convention center hotel that the Georgia World Congress Center Authority is in building a new headquarters hotel, the 1,000-room Signia by Hilton next to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The glass skyscraper is set to open in January and is a partnership between the GWCCA and Hilton. Financing for the hotel includes $450 million in revenue bonds, a $55 million investment by the GWCCA and $25 million from Hilton as part of the hotelier’s management agreement.
In announcing plans for the Savannah hotel, the Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority referenced the “successful model” used in the Signia’s development.
“Why try and reinvent the wheel?” Smith said. “Let’s work with the same people who did the Signia in Atlanta and they can be sister properties.”
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