UPDATE 12/7/17: The Fresno City Council voted 7-0 to approve the sale of the lot and Inyo and M for the planned hotel development.
A long-vacant dirt lot next to the Fresno Convention Center Exhibit Hall could soon become a 200 room hotel, under a deal that is scheduled to go before the city council next Thursday. The agreement would involve the city selling the three-quarter acre lot at Inyo and "M" Streets to Metro Hospitality Services for $644,000.
The sale would be contingent on the company developing a new hotel on the site. According to a city staff report, the new facility would be a "four star" facility with:
"a swimming pool, spa, fitness center and ground floor parking and retail which will complement surrounding uses and activities occurring at the Fresno Entertainment and Convention Center."
The lot has long been envisioned as the possible site for a convention center hotel. The city purchased the site for $3 million in 2005, with the intent of luring a hotel developer, but previous efforts stalled. The property had been home to the Ophelia Building, which the city tore down to make the land more appealing to potential hotel investors. Plans for the site go back as far as 2001, when a Rhode Island-based company had a plan for a 400 room, 14-story Wyndham hotel for the property.
According to publicly available documents, Metro Hospitality Services, currently operates a Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel in Northwest Fresno.
