Omni hotel would soar over Raleigh skyline
Omni Hotels and Resorts plans to build a 27-story, 550-room hotel in downtown Raleigh, on an acre between the convention center and the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.
Plans for the hotel were presented Tuesday at the Raleigh City Council meeting. The hotel would feature a rooftop pool, spa and meeting space, with a tower as tall as the Truist building on Fayetteville Street. It would occupy a square city block bounded by Salisbury, South, Wilmington and Lenoir streets.
Raleigh Convention Center planners say they lose out on events annually because of a lack of nearby hotel rooms.
Dennis Edwards, president of the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau President, said, "They have the experience, and I think when you get a product like Omni that comes into your city, it makes a huge statement in the convention and meetings market. Everybody loves Omni. They have a great reputation. And I think it really speaks to the type of hotel we were trying to secure."
Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to invest $400,000 toward negotiations with Omni.
The city expects the luxury hotel to open in 2027.
"This opens up endless possibilities for more conferences, more conventions and more events at the Raleigh Convention Center," Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. "And, the economic benefits cannot be overstated."
It will be the first Omni in the Triangle and the third in North Carolina.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for the city of Raleigh and Wake County," Baldwin said. "We’ve been envisioning a new convention center hotel downtown for years. We are now one step closer to making it happen."
