Council Takes Next Step toward Conference Center

TYLER — The Tyler City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to enter into two professional service contracts to continue work to bring a full service hotel conference center to Tyler. The first contract is with GT Development, L.L.C., who will act as program manager to represent the city; the second contract is with Champ Hospitality who will seek private equity to develop the hotel portion of this project. “The hotel conference center is a public-private partnership, with the City primarily funding the conference center and private investment constructing the hotel,” said Tyler Mayor Martin Heines. “Bringing Champ and GT together to work on this project will give Tyler the best possible chance of bringing this project to fruition.”

The conference center will be located on city-owned property adjacent to the new Village at Cumberland Park retail development at Broadway and Loop 49. The City owns 17.97 acres, a portion of which will be leased to the hotel developer for the project. The site will also feature a 3.7 acre lake. The proposed conference center hotel is anticipated to generate new hotel occupancy tax income for the city, in addition to new sales tax revenue and property tax income. The hotel could provide up to 250 rooms and the conference center could offer 26,000 square feet of meeting space. More details and actual scope would depend upon the design that is yet to be completed, according to a city news release.