The former Hotel Seagate, for years a deplorable eyesore, will soon be transformed to a 200-room hotel. That’s a good thing. It means tourists and business travelers downtown, and one less eyesore.

Lucas County commissioners announced the county will work with a developer on a $30-million investment to turn the partially demolished hotel along Summit Street into a dual-branded Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites hotel.

RELATED: Renovations suggested for SeaGate Convention Centre | Hotel Seagate renovation

That project comes on the heels of the successful $31 million renovation and rebranding of the Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel just a few blocks away.

An analysis from STR, a hotel market data and analytics specialty firm, says Toledo’s hotel business is booming. Occupancy rates and revenue in the last couple of years have been at all-time highs.

Local officials are excited that the rejuvenated downtown hotels will draw even more visitors to spur the continuing revitalization of the city’s core.

There is one glaring omission from the grand plans for turning downtown Toledo into a magnet for large groups of out-of-town visitors — the city’s outdated convention center, which lacks a ballroom.

Last year the county commissioned a $47,000 study from Development Strategies, Inc. to find out how to improve the SeaGate Convention Centre. The consultants recommended renovating the 30-year-old convention center to improve its exterior and add a large ballroom, which needs to be 15,000 to 20,000 square feet. 

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The consultants estimated that such a SeaGate Centre renovation could bring Toledo $44 million more each year and create 500 jobs.

Renovations to the SeaGate Centre also need to reflect the many changes to downtown in recent years. An ideal design would include a pedestrian promenade through the building that would connect the riverfront, ProMedica’s new headquarters, and Promenade Park with thriving sports and entertainment venues now on the other side of the convention center. 

We have a walkable downtown, on a riverfront. The task before us is to open up the riverfront, maximize it as an asset, and to unify the downtown. It makes no sense whatsoever to cut our downtown in half. It makes even less sense to do that with something that should be an economic driver — our convention center.

First Published December 11, 2017, 10:45 p.m.