The luxury hotel chain, the Four Seasons, has been building an 18-story, 256-room hotel in Harbor East, Baltimore for over a year now. Until now, they have not been able to fully finance the $197 million project. On Thursday, January 6, 2011, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is expected to sign off on a deal to provide the hotel with partial financing from the proceeds of $45 million in tax-exempt bonds (in the form of “recovery zone facility revenue” bonds) issued by the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority. This money was made available through President Obama’s Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The hotel is expected to create $221 million in economic activity, 1,273 construction jobs and 577 permanent hotel jobs.
Timothy P. Doyle, a program manager with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said “the authority decided to back the package based on its economic impact and job creation projections.”
With this assistance, the hotel is scheduled to open in late 2011. Upon completion of the project, the plan is to then build condominiums above the hotel, bringing the building to 44 stories. This would make the Four Seasons building the tallest in the city. The bond money will be used solely for the creation of the hotel, and related retail space, not the condominiums.