Dallas has just sold $478 million worth of bonds to finance a new convention-center hotel. This seems like an odd time to be building such a mega-project, given a slowdown in travel demand and given the recent foreclosure on St. Louis’ Renaissance…

The bondholders who took control of downtown St. Louis’ Renaissance Hotel in February now say they may sell part of the hotel complex. A news release issued today by UMB Bank, the bond trustee, says that Jones Lang LaSalle Americas has been retained…

If Kansas City’s leaders want to learn about the economics of a 1,000-room convention hotel, they could drive 200 miles east and talk to the folks who recently foreclosed on the Renaissance Hotel in downtown St. Louis. Instead, they’re spending $500,000…

St. Louis’ Renaissance Hotel, which went through foreclosure earlier this year, is asking union workers to help it cut costs. The downtown hotel is asking Unite Here, the union representing hotel employees, to forego two wage increases and to let management temporarily…

Consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is forecasting an 18 percent drop in revenue this year for the Renaissance Hotel in downtown St. Louis, but it still thinks the hotel can turn an operating profit of about $500,000. The consultants’…

Consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, hired to assess the operations of the Renaissance Hotel in downtown St. Louis, has issued some preliminary recommendations to the bondholders who now own the hotel. It has identified between $250,000 and $1 million of cost…

I wrote in December that the Renaissance Hotel’s bondholders held the keys to the hotel’s future. After today’s foreclosure sale, they quite literally hold the keys to the property.

Bond trustee UMB Bank has used modern technology, like conference calls and the Web, to…

The Renaissance Hotel in downtown St. Louis isn’t likely to change flags as a result of a pending foreclosure action, the trustee for the hotel’s bondholders says. The trustee, UMB Bank, posted a disclosure notice following a conference call last Thursday with bondholders.…

Here in St. Louis, we now know the folly of listening to consultants who promise that a big new hotel will attract more convention business. Our downtown Renaissance Hotel, built on the basis of such projections, has just defaulted on its…

The Renaissance Hotel is experiencing even worse financial results than officials projected a month ago, general manager Robert Bray told bondholders recently. His comments are contained in a disclosure document filed this week by UMB Bank, the hotel’s bond trustee.

The…