As Franklin County commissioners approved their financing toward the $220 million, 1,000-room Hilton hotel tower next to the Greater Columbus Convention Center, some officials already are wondering when planning should begin on the next hotel expansion to keep up with demand from large conventions and other gatherings.

As crews began excavation to relocate utilities this week at the site of a new Hilton tower next to the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady had a question.

When is work going to begin on the next large-scale hotel expansion?

"We probably ought not wait until this one’s finished before we start talking about how and when and where," O’Grady said. "It’s something we know we’re going to need."

The discussion was part of the commissioners’ approval this week of financing for the $220 million Hilton project, which will create the city’s first 1,000-room hotel.

The expansion includes a 28-floor tower, to be built on the east side of High Street, abutting the convention center and connecting to the existing Hilton across the street. It will include more than 460 rooms, added convention and meeting spaces, and ground-floor and rooftop restaurants.

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Construction will take about 30 months, with a scheduled opening of January 2022, said Don Brown, executive director of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority.

Financing for the project will include about $132 million in hotel revenue bonds and another $88 million in bonds backed by the city and county. All will be repaid with hotel revenue, Brown said.

The county provided a comparable guarantee on a portion of the funds borrowed when the current Hilton was built; the hotel has been self-supporting since it opened in 2012.

New bonding will be finalized in coming weeks, but county and city officials had to give their approval for the financing arrangements to proceed.

Back to O’Grady’s question about future expansions: Brown said it took about 10 years to complete planning on the first part of the Hilton and about five years to reach the excavation point for the new tower.

Given the ongoing growth of central Ohio, more hotel rooms likely will be needed.

"Looking back nine years ago, we didn’t think we’d need this 500-room expansion so soon," Brown said. "If we continue to succeed … we will need another 500 rooms or so in six to 10 years. The community should start talking about whether we should start plans and development discussions for that."

He added, "When you’re ready to take that up, we have a few ideas we could suggest. But we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves."

mkovac@dispatch.com

@OhioCapitalBlog