The Seattle Times reports that the City of Seattle will allow the R.C. Hedreen hotel at 8th and Howell to go forward.

It is a very interesting story. The hotel will have 1,264 rooms — the largest in the city (the Sheraton has 1,236 rooms). But originally the hotel was going to be even bigger, with 1,700 rooms and affordable housing. As detailed by the Times, unions fought the project. (See also this Puget Sound Business Journal story.)

Meanwhile, the Times has another story about a plan to double the capacity of Seattle’s convention center. Currently, “Seattle has less capacity than rival convention facilities in Denver, Portland and Vancouver, B.C.” The new facility would be across the street from the Hedreen hotel. Tom Norwalk, CEO of Visit Seattle, said “we think we could book 20 to 25 more conventions a year that we’re not able to book now.”

Good news for the city’s economy.