In 2024 alone, the city spent $15.7 million on the hotel despite it never making money for the general fund in two decades.
The City of Baltimore has paid more than $140 million to keep a city-owned convention center hotel open since investing in building it in 2008.
In that time, the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor has not achieved the more than $40 million that the city had projected it would add to its general fund by 2024.
Instead, it hasn’t put a single dime into the fund — and taxpayers have been footing the bill to keep it afloat for almost two decades.
In 2024 alone, the city spent $15.7 million on the hotel. All of those historical costs are on top of the $301 million that Baltimore City borrowed to build the hotel in the first place.
In addition, the city’s Baltimore Development Corp. has allowed the hotel to use it for office space and administrative services, as it continued to hemorrhage money.
Robert Swerdling, a consultant on the project who got a cut from bonds used to build hospitality projects, told the Baltimore Banner this week that he did think about profit when pitching the project.
Swerdling was at the forefront of boosting the hotel’s construction to the city council.
“Did I lie? Did I stretch the truth? I don’t remember,” Swerdling reportedly told the Banner. “I believe that I’ve always been a good government analyst. I believe that the property was successful in its own way.”
