Cincinnati city, convention and development leaders have long complained that the city's convention center hotel, the Millennium, is so out-of-date it's hurting convention business.

So without a promise by the hotelier to make improvements, these same leaders have a new plan – find somebody else to build a large, upscale hotel.

At a Monday afternoon press conference, Cincinnati city, convention and development leaders announced they're preparing to send out a request for proposals for new convention center hotel at the corner of Fifth and Plum streets.

The new hotel would have at least 600 rooms and be built on a roughly 1.2-acre parking lot just south of the Duke Energy Convention Center.

The Port, formerly known as the Greater Cincinnati Redevelopment Authority, bought the parking lot last year for $11.9 million, paving the way for the new plan.

The agency has pledged to work together with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), along with city and county leaders to redevelop the site.

"This is a missing piece of our city's renaissance," said Julie Calvert, CVB president and CEO. "It's a game changer to allow our city to win on a much bigger basis."

Officials have long complained that the city's current convention center hotel, the Millennium, is so out-of-date it's hurting convention business.

Not so, the hotelier said after the announcement.

“We have been proud, good corporate citizens of the Cincinnati community for more than 20 years, where we have provided safe and clean rooms at affordable prices," said Erik Anderouard, senior vice president/North America of Millennium Hotels and Resorts. "We welcome the opportunity to engage in meaningful and productive discussions on the ways our hotel can continue to be supportive of the long-term vision and vitality of Cincinnati.”

A new first-class convention center hotel will be key to bringing that business back to Cincinnati, Calvert said Monday at the site of the proposed hotel.

Downtown Cincinnati has 12 hotels, with another two boutique hotels under construction.

But none of them can handle conventions that need to book more than 800 rooms, leaders say. And, as a result, large convention booking have declined, data from the CVB show.

For instance, in 2016 the CVB booked 37 of what would be considered large conventions. Compare that to 2018, when 12 of the same type of conventions were booked.

"We're strongly supportive of the biggest hotel that we can get,'' Calvert said. "We have pages of information from meeting planners saying they will come if we get that hotel in place.''

Steve Leeper, president and CEO of 3CDC, said it would take about two-and-a-half years to build the hotel once a developer is on board.

He said 3CDC is working with HVS, a global hospitality consulting firm, to identify a half dozen or so developers who might be interested in investing in the project.

A study by HVS showed the market can support a convention center hotel with a minimum of 600 rooms, along with 40,000-60,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and a 12,000-20,000-square-foot ballroom.

Leeper said the proposed hotel site is in a perfect location because of its proximity to the convention center, the size of the property and the fact that it is controlled by a public entity that wants the hotel there.

"It gives us all the tools we need,'' he said.

City and county officials said they would limit the amount of public funding for the hotel to possibly include 30-year tax increment financing and proceeds from the city's hotel tax.

Mayor John Cranley said during the press conference that investment in a new Downtown hotel would be a boon for the local economy.

"Bringing in people from out of town...is just a net plus for everybody,'' he said. "Making sure we have a flagship, five-star, top-of-the-line hotel with lots of rooms is critical if we're going to compete with the major cities and regions around the country.''

The push for a new hotel further marginalizes the Millennium, which has come under fire in recent weeks failing to live up to convention hotel standards.

Most recently, a spokesman for Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said the county prosecutor was considering filing a lawsuit that would declare the Millennium a nuisance property.

A lawsuit could potentially shut down the hotel, which is located directly across Elm Street from the convention center.

Millennium officials said a nuisance complaint is unwarranted.

Joe Savarise, executive director of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association, applauded the city’s effort to land a new hotel.

“Clearly, everybody within the hotel industry supports the convention center and convention center hotel developments,’’ Savarise said. “That’s good for all the hotels in the area.’’

Savarise said Cincinnati needs more hotel rooms downtown if it hopes to compete for larger conventions and other events with similar-sized cities.

“Look at what’s happening in Columbus. There’s going to be another 1,000-room hotel there attached to the convention center along with a number of other hotels to serve the convention center,’’ he said, referring to the city’s downtown Hilton hotel, which is preparing to expand.

Savarise said now may be the best time in the past several years to attract a new hotel Downtown because of all the development going on in and around the area, including FC Cincinnati’s new $250 million soccer stadium being built in the West End.

“There are more exciting things happening in and around Downtown than ever,’’ he said. “All of those things together are what developers are going to look at.’’