Officials with the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Civic Center say having a flagship hotel like the Marriott is a good selling point to bring tourists, events and conventions to the river city.
The Civic Center completed its major expansion in 2007 with the hope of increasing the number of events.
PACVB Executive Director Bob Marx says many groups considered bringing their functions to Peoria because of the Marriott Project.
Civic Center spokesman Marc Burnett says they realize the hotel project is like a marathon that could take longer, especially in this economy.
"We hope this project still has validity. It's a great opportunity for some hotel to come in and take advantage of this great museum being built downtown, the new Civic Center's been renovated and ready to go," Burnett said.
"Personally we think it's just something I would have and the CVB team agrees would have been a tremendous impact on growing the downtown market place," Marx said.
Burnett says Civic Center officials believe that eventually the project will move forward...if not now maybe sometime in the near future.
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