From wineries to mountains, from the Columbia River Gorge to the Oregon Coast, from excellent restaurants to world-renowned breweries, the Portland region is a national treasure.

Despite Oregon’s many attractions, the Oregon Convention Center has under-performed as meeting and event venue due to a lack of hotel space near the convention center. Even the NBA All-Star Game has passed over Portland because of a lack of a major hotel near the convention center.

For these reasons, a partnership of Metro, Mortenson Development, the Schlesinger Companies, and Hyatt are supporting the development of a new, $198 million, 600-room Hyatt Hotel at the Oregon Convention Center. Hyatt will own and operate the hotel, holding 500 of the property’s rooms for conventions interested in coming to the region.

By increasing accommodations for the Oregon Convention center, even more people can travel to the unique Pacific Northwest city – not only to attend meetings and events but also to sample the region’s unique culture.

According to independent analysis, the hotel will:

• Create 3,000 jobs (2,000 construction and 950 hotel & hospitality)
• Attract 5 to 10 new mid-sized conventions to Portland each year
• Boost annual hotel business by 70,000 to 110,000 new room nights
• Increase convention-related tourism spending to $600 million per year
• Generate $5.6 million in new state tax revenues and $4.7 million in new local tax revenues annually

Having recently worked successfully with Hyatt to realize its distinctive Andaz hotel in Maui’s Wailea area, Brightworks is managing the LEED certification process for the new hotel and delivering a healthy and sustainable materials program.