A new Hilton or Marriott hotel could be coming to a key downtown location

A $645,000 deal to sell a plot of land in the midst of the Fresno Convention Center complex for a potential downtown hotel was unanimously approved Thursday by the Fresno City Council.

The sale involves a 0.74-acre parcel at the corner of Inyo and M streets in downtown Fresno, where the L-shaped Exhibit Hall was built around the site in anticipation of a hotel eventually being built there. Metro Hospitality Services Inc., a company in Fowler, is buying the land.

Metro Hospitality intends to develop a four-story, 200-room hotel under either the Hilton or Marriott brand. The sale is contingent upon Metro Hospitality and its CEO, Tehal Thandi, securing the array of land-use approvals and building permits needed to build.

“If they don’t meet the performance schedule, the land comes back to the city,” said Laura Gloria, a business manager for the city. Under an anticipated project schedule, the developer is expected to be able to submit plans for building permits in August 2018 and begin construction the following October. If that schedule holds, the hotel would likely open in late 2020.

There have been hopes for nearly 20 years for a hotel to be built at the site. The city bought the land in 2005 for $3.1 million.

This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 4:42 PM with the headline "A new Hilton or Marriott hotel could be coming to a key downtown location."