MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The city’s $30 million purchase of the Sheraton Convention Hotel near the Renasant Convention Center could close next month after almost a year of negotiations.

In the meantime, though, the convention center says it’s missing out on millions in lost revenue because clients were unhappy with the condition of the adjacent hotel, or were unsure about the status of its renovation.

How much? An estimated $6.4 million last year from six conventions that didn’t come to the Memphis Convention Center, officials said. One of those was K.O.A., a campground company.

“K.O.A. is Kampgrounds of America, and they stay in campgrounds, and they didn’t even want to stay at the Sheraton,” said said Camille Wellington, director of sales at the Renasant Convention Center.

Dean Dennis, general manager of the convention center, said Ducks Unlimited just brought 20,000 people to town over three days, but the company complained about how bad the hotel was.

“We’re not even getting a seat at the table now,” Wellington said. “These are groups we can’t even bid on, because they’re refusing to come back until we get renovations.”

City council members were briefed on the progress of the hotel transfer this week and were told the city is moving ahead on the purchase. City officials anticipate closing around Sept. 15. Negotiations have been ongoing since last October.

After the transfer, the hotel will be operated by the Carlisle Corp. They would begin work on pre-development plans before the hotel is renovated and passed to a third-party nonprofit.

No timeline was provided for the renovation.

Last year, the city approved issuing $30 million in bonds to purchase the hotel for $22 million.

“I’ve had questions from constituents since budget about how we can’t afford to raise union wages or get people up to $40,000 dollars a year, but we can afford to buy a hotel for $30 million and whether we actually even bought it,” Councilwoman Jerri Green noted.

The 600-bed Sheraton is currently the largest hotel in Memphis, but some 200 of its rooms aren’t in use due to poor conditions, leading several conventions a year to bypass Memphis, tourism officials said.

The city took the unusual step of agreeing to purchase the hotel when the owner announced they would put it up for auction.

The adjacent Renasant Convention Center was renovated in 2020 at a cost of more than $200 million.