City Council unanimously approved at its Aug. 22 meeting entering into negotiations with a development group to plan and construct the new hotel and convention center that is the focal point of the Katy Boardwalk District.

City officials will negotiate with representatives from KB Development during the next several months in an effort to finalize a deal to construct the centerpiece aspects of the Boardwalk District—a privately owned hotel as well as a convention center owned by the city of Katy.

“The developer will do both the hotel and the conference center as one construction unit,” said Kayce Reina, director of tourism and marketing for Katy. “[The two projects] will be financed separately.”

Reina said the convention center will be financed by the Katy Development Authority with Convention and Tourism Board funds. The two projects will be designed, constructed and managed all as one entity, she said.

Officials from KB Development—several of whom were also involved in the Typhoon Texas water park project—would screen and recruit hotel companies for the site, she said.

“We are going to spend the next few months doing some concept development, some branding and working through the actual economic development agreement."

– Kayce Reina, director of tourism and marketing for Katy

“The trio [of investors] of Keith Dalton, Terry Hlavinka and Ray DeLaughter—it’s called KB Development,” Reina said. “It’s a collective team of those individuals as well as Benchmark Hospitality, Sueba [USA], who is doing other development in the Boardwalk District, and their architect.”

The Boardwalk District will be located directly south of Katy Mills and centered around a large lake with a boardwalk and nature trails. Preliminary plans for the project also include two loft-living apartment complexes, retail and dining locations and a residential neighborhood.

Reina said city officials would be diligent in the process of creating the best hotel and convention center possible for city residents.

“We are going to spend the next few months doing some concept development, some branding and working through the actual economic development agreement,” she said.

Reina said the goal for the City Council is to enter into an agreement for the project by the end of 2016.

“The earlier the better,” she said.