An empty lot near the Fresno Convention Center Exhibit Hall may finally become a hotel under a development agreement the council approved this week. Image via Google Earth

The City of Fresno may be a step closer to a long-stated goal of seeing a new hotel built in Downtown Fresno.

First reported by Valley Public Radio, the city council on Thursday will consider a development agreement with Metro Hospitality Services, Inc. to build either a Hilton or Marriott-branded hotel with 200 rooms.

The site is a city-owned, 0.7-acre lot next to the Convention Center Exhibit Hall at the northeast corner of Inyo and M street. The city has long worked toward getting a developer to build a hotel on the site.

According to the development agreement, Metro Hospitality Services would purchase the lot for $644,688 with a timeline of beginning construction by October 2018 and opening the hotel toward the end of 2020.

Metro Hospitality Services is a Fowler-based corporation with Tehal Thandi listed as president, according to the development agreement. A web search shows Thandi’s involvement with a number of business enterprises, including trucking, farming as well as operating a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel near Herndon Avenue and Highway 99.

The hotel would feature four floors and include a swimming pool, spa, fitness center, meeting rooms, lounge and bistro. The second floor would include a landscape terrace and courtyard with social gathering areas, according to the agreement.