DOWNTOWN TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - We’ve all been wondering: What’s happening with the former Hotel Seagate building downtown? It’s now being called the Downtown Hotel Hilton and work that has been pushed back repeatedly is finally expected to kick off this season.
Lucas County has now partnered with the same developer that built the Renaissance Hotel downtown, Illinois based First Hospitality Group, known as FHG.
Despite the fact that they’re not a local company, they feature the Renaissance on their website’s homepage and are proud to be a part of the improving landscape in downtown Toledo.
“That building has generated a lot of interest. I know for years, people are going, ‘What’s going on with Hotel Seagate?’ Hang on. It’s coming," Lucas County Commissioner, Pete Gerken said.
Separate from this project, but also a part of the overall plan is to make improvements to the SeaGate Centre, including adding on a ballroom. Whether that will happen simultaneously or after the hotel project is complete has yet to be decided.
Earlier this year, the state received a grant for work on the SeaGate Centre of half a million dollars. That number falls short of the $10 million they requested and will be looking to partner with private donors for the rest.
"Here's what we do know: that we need to have a hotel open by January of 2021. The Solheim Cup is coming, one of the biggest international displays. We've got to have another hotel downtown, so we're working under that deadline, and we're going to be successful,” said Gerken.
County Commissioner Gerken promised another update about partners in this project in the coming weeks.
“We are talking about arrangements with people who want to be our partners on it. None of these details are finalized yet. It would be premature to announce that, but we think we’re really close, and I mean within the next two or three weeks of finalizing an announcement we think that the community will be very pleased with," Gerken added.
WTOL will update this story as soon as the announcement is made.
