MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Memphis City Council on Tuesday discussed a deal to buy and renovate the aging downtown Sheraton Convention Hotel. The 600-bed Sheraton is currently the largest hotel in Memphis, but some 200 of its rooms aren't in use due to poor conditions, leading several conventions a year to bypass Memphis, tourism officials say. Its owners say they don't want to spend to money to renovate the hotel, and plan to put the building up for auction by the end of the year, Mayor Paul Young said. But Young said that creates an opportunity for the city to buy the hotel for $22 million, renovate it and turn it over to a nonprofit management board for 10 or 20 years. "What we cannot afford in our downtown is to have another tower go dark," Young said, pointing out numerous stalled development projects in the area. However, for that to happen the city council has to give their approval through issuing bonds. The council could take the first votes during this afternoon's meeting. The building was cited as an asset in downtown economics. The Mayor and some city leaders say the deal would protect the more than $200 million investment made into the nearby Renasant Convention Center, which resurrected that building during the pandemic when there were few tourists. 📡 See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South. 📧 Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox. Kevin Kane, the president and CEO of Memphis Tourism said that revitalizing the hotel would benefit downtown and the city as a whole. "If that hotel is not firing on all cylinders it creates a tremendous hardship on our ability to attract lucrative pieces of business to our community" Kane told city council members Tuesday morning. Dean Dennis, general manager of the Renasant Convention Center, told council that the city is losing about 20 conventions a year because of a lack of useable hotel rooms in a large block. While some believe the purchase could be a major win for Memphis tourism, others say the city has bigger priorities that should be addressed first. Several council members on Tuesday questioned how this benefits Memphians who are not staying at hotels downtown. "I'm not 100% clear why we believe the city has to be involved, unless a bank has told them they have to be involved because they can't get it done any other way, and that is concerning," said council member Jerri Green. Memphis hotel ranked second in the South by Conde Nast She said other cities that have done deals like this, such as Baltimore, are now trying to get out of it.