Hard Rock Hotel was supposed to offer ‘rock star experience’ in Dayton; what happened?

DAYTON — Business leaders are seeing the first steps of the Dayton Convention Center’s $40 million renovation, but there’s still a large hotel concern that must be settled by the time construction is over.

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The former site of the Radisson Hotel has been vacant since October 2022. In November 2022, the Montgomery County Convention Facilities Authority announced the site would be transformed into a Hard Rock Hotel to “offer a rock star experience.”

Little movement on the announcement has happened since then and now we’ve gotten our first confirmation that a Hard Rock might not be coming to Dayton.

Pamela Plageman, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Convention Facilities, told Channel 7′s Mike Campbell during News Center 7 at 6:00 that the project “is stalled for now.”

“It will happen, it’s just a little bit of a challenge, right?” Plageman said.

She made it clear that a hotel will come to the site.

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“We just need a good convention hotel so yes, certainly looking at other brands is an option,” Plageman said.

Lockwood Development, the current owner of the hotel, is working on the property. A representative told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell off-camera that they are doing work on the roof, elevators, windows, room, and boilers.

Still, there is some uncertainty about when a hotel will open there.

Across the street, work on the convention center is about 25 percent done. Work will continue until 2025, all while the center continues to host events.

“Our community, we heard them loud and clear. They needed the venue for event space, so we are trying to work around all that and it is working beautifully so far,” Plageman said.

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