Marietta City Council unanimously approved December 12 agreements that will allow the Marietta Conference Center and Resort on Powder Springs Street to become a Hilton hotel. The city will still own the Conference Center and golf course, which will remain public.

Marietta will sign a 20-year lease with Dallas-based Remington Hospitality, which manages the Conference Center. The city and its downtown development authority will issue bonds of $7 million to refurbish and renovate the facility, which will remain open during the improvements. Remington will be responsible for all payments on the bond and for paying off the existing debt of the facility, which will build equity for the city. At the end of the lease period, the city would have a property worth over $30 million.

With the makeover planned, the Hilton Hotels Corporation has agreed to a conversion of the Conference Center into a Hilton property. Guests will be able to book rooms at the hotel using Hilton’s worldwide reservations system, one of many marketing tools that city officials and Remington anticipate will increase business at the Conference Center.

The facility will benefit from Hilton’s national sales and marketing efforts, meeting referrals, national and regional advertising and public relations.

“With a quality operator like Remington and with the high quality franchise of Hilton, I think Marietta and its citizens have an asset we can be proud of,” Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway said. “I think we have an asset that will help Marietta’s image.”

Hilton and Marietta City Council will approve any name change to the Conference Center, but none has been submitted.

Remington, which runs the day to day operations at the Conference Center, will not take any profit from the facility until an operating account of $1 million and a reserve account of $1.6 million are funded. Distribution of revenues after that point will be divided between an escrow account for future renovations and Remington, which is responsible for all future renovations during the term of the lease.

Once gross revenues reach $14 million, the city will receive three percent of all additional revenue.

Hilton is a name that is synonymous with first-class hospitality. For almost 90 years, the Hilton Family has been offering the business and leisure traveler worldwide the very finest in accommodations, service, amenities and value.