Onorato said officials want to add at least 400 to 500 rooms to the 616-room Westin Convention Center hotel so that the city can attract larger meetings and conventions.
"It's on hold until we can get someone who is willing to build one (that size)," Onorato said.
The chief executive spoke during an announcement by Kratsa Properties of Harmar for a $25 million, 156-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel on the site of the former county Jail Annex at Fourth Avenue and Ross Street, Downtown.
Plans for the hotel are moving forward without public subsidy, said Onorato and officials with Kratsa Properties.
"I am confident about its location because it will be close to the courthouse and office buildings," said William Kratsa Jr., general partner in the development company. "We expect the hotel will attract guests from out-of-town experts called in to testify at local trials, to attorneys involved in trials who don't want to travel back and forth from their homes to Downtown."
In 1994, officials began talking about the need to have 1,500 hotel rooms within walking distance of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to enable Pittsburgh to compete with other cities in attracting large conventions. But building rooms that are linked to the center hasn't happened.
"It's like everything else around here. It's a big run-around sometimes," said Todd Mathias, who three years ago opened August Henry's City Saloon a half-block from the convention center on Penn Avenue. "But I definitely think if they got (more hotel rooms) in, they could get bigger and better conventions. And I think it would help this part of town grow even more."
The county won't subsidize a convention hotel that would not provide at least 400 new rooms -- a number that's necessary to meet the 1,000-room threshold needed to attract major conventions, Onorato said.
Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises Inc., owner of the Westin Convention Hotel, has worked with the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority, owner of the convention center, as the developer of a proposed hotel projected to cost $104 million.
Plans were to provide a $34 million subsidy from state gambling proceeds to supplement Forest City's private contribution for the project.
Onorato, though, said it might be necessary to solicit proposals from other developers. Forest City indicated recently that, because of increasing costs, it might reduce the size of such a facility to about 300 rooms.
Brian Ratner, president of East Coast development for Forest City, said yesterday that the company remains involved in the project. Forest City has been waiting for the Sports & Exhibition Authority to award the public funding, he said.
Some business owners say they would welcome the additional hotel space to help attract conventioneers.
"One of the biggest problems (with not drawing bigger or more conventions) is them not having the rooms," said Randy Wright, assistant general manager at The Sonoma Grille, which sits near the convention center on Penn Avenue. "I'm sure just about any restaurant in this location would say the same thing."
Ruth Heskins, a Canadian who was one of thousands attending a recent Al-Anon convention Downtown, said conventions aren't all about the hotel rooms. She said she wanted to see more Downtown restaurants open on the weekends.
"That's the only thing I could think to complain about," said Heskins, 69, of Winnipeg, who was making her first trip to Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile, across Downtown, the smaller Hilton Garden Inn could be under construction on the jail annex site by late November or December and be open a year thereafter.
Kratsa said amenities will include a restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining, as well as a coffee shop on the first level along Ross Street.
In addition to its proximity to government buildings on Grant Street, the future hotel should be popular with people attending sports events at the North Shore stadiums, at Mellon Arena and then at the new Penguins facility, both Uptown, he said.
The hotel will have its entrance off Fourth Avenue. A two-story lobby will lead to the business center, a 5,000-square-foot banquet room, and an area for breakfast. A pool, spa and exercise area are planned for the second floor. The hotel will have three levels of underground parking.
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