Sam detailed yesterday the city's plan to redo the convention center and restructure its $263.9 million debt (bond sale! bond sale!). Which leaves plenty of other interesting items for our City Hall sneak peak -- among them, the discussion scheduled for this morning's Economic Development Committee briefing titled "Attracting Foreign Investment as Part of Dallas' Economic Growth Strategy: The EB-5 Program." Which, if I read the item correctly, is about bringing out-of-country dough-re-mi and full-time jobs to Southern Dallas in exchange for green cards and visas.
And, for those who can't get enough of the convention center hotel, well, the city's putting off choosing an operator (Marriott or Omni? Omni or Mariott?) till November 10. Incidentally, the city's made a pros-and-cons list for both would-be operators worth a look-see. As in: Marriott's "construction requirements result in higher building costs," while Omni has "less experience in operating large hotels" and "less well established presence with convention type customer base." That sort of thing.
Also back on the table this a.m.: transferring the four-building Atmos Complex, which sits behind the nasty old Statler Hilton Hotel on Commerce, from Forest City to Hamilton Properties, as mentioned late last month. Alas, ain't a cent in the TIF for the Hamiltons, at least till 2013. --Robert Wilonsky