New development is the key to Warren’s future.

Development brings increased vitality to the city’s downtown, increased tax base to help pay for city services and, most importantly, paychecks to area residents.

So it’s disappointing that a boutique hotel in the HIY Inc. building on Liberty Street has fallen through. Warren officials had committed $2 million in state grant money toward the project, but that money will be reallocated after the hotel developers asked the city to terminate state grant commitments. Some of that money will now be spent on another possible hotel on Liberty Street and projects at the Warren Fire Station.

Much like a real-life game of Monopoly, however, we have to walk before we run. You have to build a monopoly and put up houses on your properties before building hotels. The bankers may be telling Warren officials they haven’t invested enough in their properties to merit building a hotel. City Manager Nancy Freenock said HIY building project was unsuccessful in obtaining matching funds for the state dollars. That would lend credence to one of the oft-heard criticisms about lack of need for downtown hotels. Investors have spoken loudly about the project’s viability if they didn’t want to commit money to the boutique hotel project.

The question must shift, then, from the need for a hotel to what can be done to increase the Warren area’s ability to attract visitors. When the market generates enough visitor traffic to support hotels, there won’t be a problem finding investors.