WPB defers decision on Comeau hotel conversion

West Palm Beach city commissioners have deferred approval of a developer’s request for a $50 million bond issue to help convert the historic Comeau Building at 319 Clematis Street to a 162-room hotel. Property owner John Quinn of Chicago-based NCP Holdings, who recently reached a deal with lender Bank of America to avoid a foreclosure on the 10-story office property, has proposed a four-star Marriott Renaissance Hotel that would include 2,500 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant, rooftop patio and bar. The city’s tax-free bonds would provide low-cost financing to the hotel, which would need a 59 percent occupancy rate to break even. If approved, it would open in 2012, but commissioners said yesterday they would need more time to decide whether the city could take on the financial risks of a new hotel in this economic climate. [Palm Beach Post]

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