In another sign of just how badly the pandemic has devastated San Antonio’s tourism economy, the city is now covering the Grand Hyatt convention center hotel’s bond payments, the Express-News reports.
City officials expect to make $13.4 million in payments over the next seven months to keep the struggling hotel in operation, according to the daily. After the pandemic dried up convention business, the 1,000-room property laid off workers and closed for five months, only reopening in September.
The city-owned hotel was born through a controversial $282 million bond deal in 2015 that accompanied the expansion of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
Now that the Grand Hyatt is floundering, the city will use tax revenues collected from visitors to cover the bond payments, the Express-News reports. That will siphon off funds otherwise used for tourism marketing, the arts and historical preservation.
San Antonio has already made one payment for the hotel: $338,000 on July 15, according to the report. It also expects to make a $4.3 million payment on January 14 and a $9.1 million payment next July.
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This article appears in Dec 2-15, 2020.
