Demand Pushes Growth For More Hotels In Downtown Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The other day a friend said he couldn't find a hotel room Downtown for less than $500 a night.

"Right now prices are really high," confirmed Jeremy Waldrup, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

There's a shortage of rooms as Pittsburgh becomes a destination city for business and pleasure.

"Pittsburgh is outperforming our peer cities with respect to demand, and it shows on our street fronts," Waldrup told KDKA money editor Jon Delano.

"You see a whole host of new restaurants, thriving Cultural District, and it's all supported by this growing demand for hotel rooms," he said.

That has led developers to construct new hotels in Downtown, the Strip and North Shore, like the Hotel Monaco in the old James Reed Building, or the brand new Hilton Garden Inn at Market Square, or turning the top 11 floors of the Oliver Building into an Embassy Suites.

The most recent announcement of a hotel conversion in Downtown Pittsburgh is the old Salvation Army Building.

It's now slated to become a hotel called Distrikt with about 135 rooms.

When all these hotel conversions are completed, Pittsburgh will have another 1,500 hotel rooms, an increase of 32 percent in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Besides Hotel Monaco, the Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Suites and Distrikt, add in Drury Inn & Suites, a Holiday Inn, Homewood Suites and Holiday Inn Express.

The entire region benefits says VisitPittsburgh's Jason Fulvi, as larger conventions and more people are attracted to Pittsburgh.

"It gives us more inventory so we can sit down with a meeting planner who's looking to bring a convention and say, we can fit all the rooms that you need in close proximity to the convention center," noted Fulvi.

And more supply means lower hotel prices for everyone.

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