MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Memphis City Council on Tuesday approved a deal allowing the city to buy and renovate the aging downtown Sheraton Convention Hotel. Three separate measures were approved by all present council members; the Center City Revenue Finance Commission will issue $30 million in bonds and loan the proceeds to the city for a $22 million purchase of the 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 said. ORIGINAL STORY: Mayor Young wants city to buy $22 million downtown hotel Its owners say they don't want to spend 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. 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. Memphis hotel ranked second in the South by Conde Nast "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. She said other cities that have done deals like this, such as Baltimore, are now trying to get out of it. "We're buying a whole building, a 600-room building that has been in despair for a long time," said council member Rhonda Logan. "How do we know what we're buying?" Mayor Young's plan calls for paying for the project by using bonds and transitioning to an eventual sale to a nonprofit group. "We know these are tough decisions," Young said. "They are important investments, but we're confident and ready to double down on our city and we believe in Memphis."